Stuck in the Suburbs
by MaxRideObsessed
Summary: Max has a lot of problems. A normal life completely stresses her out, an evil Barbie has her mind set on Fang, and, of course, there's homework. Not to mention her friends are madly in love with each other and won't admit it. Can Fang and Max work it out?
1. Chapter 1

**Stuck in the Suburbs – Chapter 1**

**This is a new story I have written a few chapters of. I probably won't update it for a while until I have more done, but please read this and tell me if I should continue…**

"Ohmygod I'm soo excited!" Ella squealed to me and Nudge. We were sitting on Ella's bed, watching her try on her dress for the upcoming dance. "Can you believe that he asked me weeks early in case someone else asked? It's just so sweet! I mean, we're practically together, and we already went to the Spring Dance, but still…"

Nudge leaned forward with avid interest and I leaned back, pretending to be listening as she told us this for the fifth time.

"What did he say?" asked Nudge excitedly. "I soo want a boyfriend!"

_Yeah. When you actually meet some boys other than Iggy, Fang, and Gazzy, be sure to go looking for one._ I smiled. "Yeah. Maybe someday, Nudge."

"Girls! Dinner's ready!" called Mom from the kitchen.

You could smell dinner from all the way down the hall – it was heaven. Mom, unlike Anne, knew how to cook Thanksgiving dinner to perfection.

And yes, I did say Thanksgiving. Yes, it has been an almost-year. To tell you the truth, though, not much happened.

See, the flock and I left Dr. Martinez's house around the end of February about ten moths ago. Everyone knows that part of the story. And, of course, you're probably expecting me to go into some full-blown rant about the exciting adventures we went on in the time we were gone.

I hate to break it to you, but really, not all that much happened. We went looking for Itex, but they and the rest of their facilities had been, thanks to the blog, exposed to the world. The blog, of course, is now more famous than ever thanks to the thousands of kids who helped spread the word. The flock and I were found in newspapers and stories about "Fang and the mysterious flying children" were all over television. Naturally, we had to fly under the radar and make sure nobody saw us. A few months of this and the flock got impatient and tired of doing nothing. Around this time Jeb contacted us – by way of the voice – and told us to come back to Dr. Martinez's house immediately.

I still didn't quite trust him, but decided to go, partly because the rest of the flock would have gone crazy if I didn't, and partly because I missed Mom and Ella. We flew over the ocean, this time without a plane, and it's not something I plan on doing ever again. It might have been the coldest I've been in my entire life; minus the time Iggy and Gazzy locked me out of our old house during a storm in my pajama t-shirt and noting else. (There were all laughing while I tried to get through the windows, until Fang saw that I was on the verge of hypothermia and let me in – I didn't talk to any of the boys for days)

We got here 3 days ago and have been loving the whole "place to sleep" thing. Food is good too. Speaking of food, the table was calling to me, so I ran out to the kitchen, where I saw a huge turkey and all sorts of other Thanksgiving food, and the flock around the table. Ella and Nudge were already there, and thanking God that I didn't have to sit between them I squeezed in to Iggy's left. Fang was on my left, and Jeb was next to him. Then came Mom, then Ella, followed by Nudge and Angel, and Gazzy, who was on Iggy's other side. There were 9 people and only 4 chairs, so I was sitting in a swivel chair so short that my head barely came above the table. I could see Fang struggling to keep a straight face as I attempted to adjust the seat, and shot him the bird when no one was looking.

A few minutes later we were all settled and Mom wanted us to give thanks around the table. I remembered last year, when we had Thanksgiving at Anne's. If they had only listened to me and left before then, we wouldn't have been stuck doing the stupid tradition. But they didn't, so now this is our second time. Joy.

"Here, I'll start," she said. "I know you guys don't like to do this, but it's something Ella and I have been doing since she was old enough to talk, so bear with me." I sighed and she took a deep breath.

"I'm thankful that I'm healthy and have a home, and plenty of food. I'm also thankful for my two beautiful daughters, one of whom I've really just met." I blushed and saw Fang and Iggy smirking at me out of the corner of my eyes. "I'm glad that all of you guys are here, and that I've gotten to know all of you, and that you've finally beaten Itex. I would say more but I'll let Ella go."

Everyone looked at Ella. She seemed embarrassed, but started nervously. "I'm thankful for all of you guys, basically. I'm glad for Max, because I have a sister who's really nice and makes me feel less lonely. Iggy and Fang are awesome too – Fang, you're really nice even though you're mostly quiet, and Iggy's cool because he can do anything he wants to, even if he's blind. And Nudge, you're awesome, and I love talking to you 'cause you're like my age and totally are just like me. Gazzy, you're a really cute evil genius and a cool almost-brother. And Angel, you're so sweet and cute and adorable and I can tell almost everyone loves you. And, of course, I love my Mom…and I'm thankful for all that other stuff she said."

There was silence after her speech. Her cheeks turned bright red. "Nudge, your turn," said Ella.

"Okay! I'm glad for you Ella, because you're awesome, and my flock. And I'm glad for boys, cuz they're so cute and sometimes they're even nice and don't act like idiots. And I'm glad that I'm pretty and I'm going to be a teenager. And also that Itex is gone. Okay, Angel."

"I'm thankful all the bad guys are beaten and it's just us now and we can relax, and that Jeb says we can go to school again so I can make friends and Nudge can get a boyfriend. I'm also glad for Max, because she found her Mom and her sister and that we don't have to sleep in caves anymore. And Nudge also wanted to say that she's glad the flock is still together, and I do too."

"Uh…" started Gazzy eloquently, "I'm thankful for everything Angel said, especially that the flock is together again because it sucked when we weren't. And I'm thankful for things that blow up."

I stared at him but he was looking at Iggy. "Glad for the place to stay, Itex is gone, flock is together," he said. "Max."

"Um, I'm thankful for my new Mom and my sister, and my flock."

I looked at Fang. "Glad for the flock – the whole flock, as in, all together – and for the food and place to stay here."

"And Fang also says that he's thankful for Max especially because she's his best friend–" she shot a glance at Fang that I didn't quite understand –,"and that Ella, Dr. Martinez and Jeb aren't evil, that the whole flock is safe and no one's hurt, and that his blog saved the world from Itex."

"Thanks, Angel," Fang muttered sarcastically, his cheeks turning a bit red, and glared at Jeb, telling him that it was his turn.

"I'm thankful for all of you, and that you've finally started trusting me. I know it will take a while, but I'm willing to wait. I love you all, and I hope that eventually you will come to confide in me. I'm very glad you are all safe and developing well."

"Can we eat now?" asked Gazzy.

Dr. Martinez laughed. "Dig in," then she smiled and added, "And don't worry, I made enough for 6 growing mutants – there's about 5 more helpings of everything in the kitchen.

We didn't hear the second half of her sentence because we were already eating. It was good to be home.

After our bellies were full, Jeb cleared his throat, telling us to be quiet. I wondered what he wanted to say so I shut up – I had been in the middle of telling Gazzy not to try to shove food up his nostrils.

"When you first came here, I told you that you were here because we needed to hide you. I hope you have realized that this is not a proper place to hide, seeing as this could be a place that they would look. Luckily, I have already wiped my and Mrs. Martinez's names here off of all the Itex records, so we should be safe.

"I hope you realize that the remnants of Itex are still looking for you, as you were the ones to destroy them. They are out to terminate you, and you need to be well hidden."

"Well, that's what we've been doing for the past year, and it hasn't really been working so well," I said.

"Yes. You need to be hidden, comfortable, and able to interact with people your own age. Now that your tracer chip is gone, Max, they can't find you if you're well hidden."

"And where exactly are we supposed to hide and do that?" I asked skeptically.

"Well, see, I've been pondering that question for some time, and I think I've finally come up with an answer. It's located in the suburbs of California, in a very low profile community. Basically, a place they'd never expect you to be. It's a town called Sunnyvale, California. You'd have to be careful about your wings, but it's perfect."

My eyes widened. Me? Living in the suburbs…the thought was utterly ridiculous. Maybe, though, that was exactly the point. Sunnyvale…it just sounded, I don't know, too…sunny.

"Can I see them?" Angel asked Jeb. "Please?"

"Of course," said Jeb, and pulled out three flyers. "I've found a neighborhood close to all of the three schools you guys will need. There are three homes for sale there, and I thought I would let you choose.

"This first one," said Jeb, pulling out a flyer of a house with a very manicured front lawn, "Is a nice two story, 5 bedroom, 2 bath house, and its only a short walk to the elementary school and only slightly longer to the middle school, but I've done research and across the street is a man with practice for his rock and roll band once a week and a mother with two rowdy 7 year old twin boys." Even Angel, who was 7 years old herself, and Fang, who loved rock and roll, winced at this.

Iggy made a buzzer noise. "Next!"

"This next is a large one story house, with 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms, but a large backyard. It is, however, next to the trailer park so you may get bright porch lights shining through the windows at inconvenient times during the night. It also comes with all the sounds from the trailer park if you open your windows."

"Too small," said Gazzy, who had no intention of sharing a room with Angel, and Jeb pulled out the third one.

"This, I think, would be your best bet," he said. "Two story, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. This house is convenient because the fence in the backyard is the only thing that separates it from the park and elementary school, so Angel and Gazzy can simply hop the fence in the mornings to get to school. Nudge should have no problem getting to the middle school, and Max, you, Iggy and Fang will only have to walk a few miles, and you three, obviously, can do that far more quickly than the average human."

"Ooooh! Oooh! I want this hooooooouse!" screamed Nudge. "And I can walk to school every day, and get a boyfriend, and it'll be so much fun! And we can go to the park when we want to and hang out and Max and Fang and Iggy can go to the high school! And then Iggy can -" Fang and Iggy simultaneously reached to put their hands over her mouth.

Jeb smiled as Nudge gave Fang - he won - the evil eye. "I can get the house within a week - is that fast enough?"

"Yes!" said Angel. "And the address rhymes too!"

"Huh?" I asked.

"2005 Lupine Drive! It sounds cute and we can remember it, too. And no, Max, I'm not hyper, I'm just really excited!"

"You guys," I asked, "do you remember what happened the last time we went to school? Or lived like normal people?"

"Max, this time Jeb is trying to hide you from Itex, not place you back in its clutches," Mom tried to explain.

I almost chuckled at her choice of words, and then saved myself. "Oh yeah? Are you sure about that?"

"Yes," said Mom. Then she did something that surprised me. She grabbed Jeb's hand and held it in her own on top of the table.

I raised my eyebrows at Fang and he shrugged.

"I still think that we'll have to discuss this," I said. "I mean, we're not _like _normal people, and we can't act like it. Could we stay in the house and not go to school?"

"Noooooooooooooo," Angel and Nudge whined at the exact same time Jeb said, "That's truancy - it's against the law."

"Because the flock and I have been known to listen to authority," I remarked, getting angry. Why doesn't the flock learn from their mistakes? Didn't they get that last time we went to school it ended in disaster, and it would start all over again? I was smart enough not to mention that there would probably be red-haired bimbos for Fang at the new high school, too.

"I'll give you guys tonight to think it over - just know, Max, that by staying here you might be putting Ella and Dr. Martinez in danger."

I said nothing and walked towards the door leading outside the house.

"Where are you going?" asked Jeb.

"_Out_," I said, and slammed the front door. I sat on the porch steps.

_Max, think about it practically, _Jeb warned in my head.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I yelled. I placed my head in the palms of my hands and sighed. Either Jeb was giving me a headache or I was getting a natural one from the stress of the day.

A few seconds later I heard Fang sit down on the steps next me. I still didn't know how he managed the whole silent thing.

"Nice dramatic exit there," he said. "Seriously, 'out?' I hope you realize you've already started acting like a normal teenager. There's no way out now."

I sighed and rubbed my temples, ignoring him.

"You know, it's natural for girls your age to fight with their fathers,"

"Go away, Fang," I groaned.

"You know he's just trying to help."

"Everyone seems so sure of that. Because sending me to my impending doom makes it seem like he's just looking out for me, right?" I mumbled the words into my hands.

"Max, it's a home and a school, not a torture chamber," he said. I sensed he was looking at me like I was out of my mind, and decided not to look up. I remembered how Fang had pressured us to settle, and realized how much _he _wanted this.

"Maybe not for _you. I _happen to have bad memories concerning high school."

"I was in the same school as you were. None of us are used to leading a normal life, Max, but the kids enjoy it."

"And so do you," I mumbled.

"What?"

I mumbled something incoherent about lovely, respectable girls who would grow up and have lovely, respectable jobs concerning skimpy outfits and street corners.

"Max, the kids are really excited about this. And Iggy wants to meet girls. Don't take that away from them."

"I know that I don't have a choice, Fang. I can't put Mom and Ella in danger, and we both saw the looks on Angel and Nudge's faces. But that doesn't change the fact that I hate it."

He pulled my hands away from my face and held them in my lap, forcing me to look at him. "It'll be fine. The flock will be there. I'll be there. Itex won't be able to find us. Everything will be fine," he repeated. When did he get so good at comforting people?

I sighed, giving in. California, here we come.

**Review, please!**


	2. Settling in

Untitled – Chapter 2

After around 9 hours of flying, and a night in a freezing cold cave, we finally arrived at our destination: Sunnyvale, CA.

We stood on the porch of 2005 Lupine Drive, staring at the front door. "Well, here we are," I said unhelpfully.

"Sooo…" said Nudge.

"So someone should open the door," Iggy said, obviously annoyed.

I lifted the key and did as Iggy said, and we all filed inside. We were in a kind of entry way, with the living room to the left and the stairs in front of us. Iggy and Gazzy immediately ran up the stairs and started arguing loudly over the master bedroom. Fang, Nudge, and Angel went up to claim their rooms as well, so I explored the downstairs, figuring I would take what was left.

To the right of the entryway was a small hallway, with a bedroom on the right. Then it opened up into the great room, which was the family room and kitchen combined. The kitchen opened up into the dining room/living room. Basically the first floor was a large circle - I had a feeling there were going to be a lot a chases concerning Iggy and Gazzy that could last hours.

The whole house was completely furnished, which was a good thing seeing as I wasn't exactly the furniture shopping type. I walked up the stairs (the only carpeted place in the whole house - the rest was hardwood) and saw Iggy and Gazzy still arguing.

"I'm bigger! I need room!"

"I need to use the bathroom more!"

"That you do, but I'm the blind guy! C'mon, whatever happened to sympathy!?"

"You guys, rock paper scissors," I said, coming out of the room closet to the stairs, which I had just claimed as my own.

"I hate this game," Iggy mumbled. "I can't cheat."

A few seconds later Gazzy swore loudly, and I yelled at him while Iggy cheered in triumph.

"What room is left?" asked Gazzy, depressed.

I calculated. "Um…I think Angel and Nudge took the one with the view of the street, and Fang took that one over there, so you can have the downstairs one."

I went downstairs with Gazzy and Iggy, and we saw how the downstairs bedroom was near the front door and, the huge window that looked right out into the street. Gazzy turned to me, his eyes wide and full of 9-year-old terror. Sure, fight robots and evil wolf mutants, but sleep downstairs right near the front door and away from the rest of the flock? Terrifying.

"Max, do I have to sleep down here?" he asked, obviously scared.

"Hey, Ig, are you sure you absolutely need the master bedroom?"

"Yes."

"Ig -"

"Yes, but Gazzy can share with me if he wants to," Iggy said, catching on quickly.

"Really? Thanks, Iggy." Gazzy sounded relieved.

They went upstairs and I noticed a note hanging in the entryway we had ignored before. I picked it up.

_Dear flock,_

_Welcome to your new house. I have furnished it with almost everything you need, but if you find there is something necessary not included in the house, please contact me and tell me what it is so that I can make it available as soon as possible._

_Please also send me any school forms you need to have signed by way of the fax machine in the living room - I can do basically anything you would like, including giving you different authentic fake identities if you want to be separate people - again, just fax me- the number is on the machine - for anything you want or need and I can make it happen. You have an account with all the money you need, but shopping will be unnecessary as the house is full of food and supplies to last at least a year. If any of you want to use the downstairs bedroom, you can move one of the beds in the master bedroom down there._

_I know this may be hard for some of you, but remember to have fun and try to experience things other people your age would do. Please be careful not to publicize yourself too much, as Itex may be looking in newspapers and/or the internet._

_Enjoy yourselves, _

_Jeb Batchelder_

I wanted to crumple the note but instead placed it upstairs in my bedroom. The room was pretty big, with a large window through which I could see Ponderosa Park and Elementary School. I looked in a cupboard upstairs and found bed sheets, and I choose simple blue ones. I also saw pink and purple for Nudge and Angel, black for Fang, and red and orange for Iggy and Gazzy - Jeb was right - we probably wouldn't need to go shopping for a long while. I did the rest of the flock's beds, then went downstairs, not quite sure what to do with myself.

I called everyone down and we all sat in the large family room, looking like one big, happy family already.

"Okay, guys, we made it," I said. "It think now we're supposed to get comfortable here – check out the place and all that other stuff."

"Who are we going to be for school? Are we all going to be siblings again?"

"Jeb said that we can choose an identity and he can give it to us if we want." Jeb must have some powerful connections in the land of the evil scientists.

"Cool!" said Angel. "I'll be…Angela. Batchelder."

"I'll be Angel's brother…Gaston… and Batchelder too."

"Hmm…Nudge was thoughtful. "I liked Tiffany-Krystal. And Monica and Melissa. Ohh! I'll be Tiffany-Krystal and my last name will be Monica, but I'll have everyone call me Melissa. Perfect!"

Iggy shrugged when we looked at him. "I guess I'll be siblings with Gazzy and Angel too. And Jeff again."

"Nick." Said Fang.

"Last name?"

He looked like he was pondering something very deep. "Nickelson."

"You creativity inspires me. I'll be Max Martinez, I guess."

Iggy suddenly started cracking up.

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

"Nick…Nickelson…" he choked out.

"Alright, so now that we have that figured out –"

Nudge had turned on the TV and she and Angel had started singing the Spongebob theme song loudly. Fang smirked at me from his position on the couch.

Fang walked out the back door and looked at the park. "I'm going to go check out the park," he shrugged. "Max?"

"Great idea. Angel, Nudge, c'mon. It's only the first day - let's go scout the area."

Everyone ran out into the backyard and jumped over the fence easily - it would probably have taken humans at least a few minutes.

Once we were in the park, Angel and Gazzy immediately ran over to the playground. Nudge sat in the bleachers to watch little league baseball and fawn over the boys, and Fang, Iggy, and I walked around. Fang was describing the place to Iggy, and I looked at the school Angel and Gazzy would be going to - it didn't _seem _sinister.

I examined every last inch of the school - I don't know what exactly I was looking for; a whitecoat hidden around a corner? A bomb hidden in a supplies closet? Either way, I didn't find anything suspicious looking, except cute stories written by kindergarteners posted on the walls. Darn.

The school was deserted, seeing as it was Sunday. Yep. Jeb was dumping us into the school system the next day, to my great displeasure. He could at least give us a week to settle in.

We eventually walked into the park area. Fang and I sat on the swing set and Iggy leaned against the sides.

We were talking about Anne's house - I was telling them that if they had listened to me in the first place, none of it would have happened, and they were arguing with me, when I saw two, slightly slutty looking teenage girls walking towards Iggy. They were giggling loudly. There was a blonde girl who, though I hate to admit it, was actually pretty. She had way too much eye makeup on, huge boobs, a shirt too small for her, and extremely tight jeans. There was also a girl with long, brown hair and a skimpy outfit way too small for her.

"Are they coming over here?" Iggy asked Fang.

"Yep," said Fang.

"Well, what do they look like?" asked Iggy impatiently.

"Well, one's blonde and has a lot of eye makeup on. The other one's got a really, really short skirt on. She's got brown hair."

"Hey," said the brunette girl flirtatiously to Iggy, flipping her hair.

"Hey," he said back. "What's up?"

"We're just hanging around the park - are you new to the neighborhood?"

"Yeah - we just moved in today."

"Oh! Do you go to Wilcox?"

"Yep. We start tomorrow. I guess you guys will be there, right?" Wow, Iggy hasn't even been here for a day and he's already a ladies man. _Good for him…I just hope it doesn't inflate his ego horribly. _The girls, despite the outfits, almost seemed nice.

The blonde girl moved away from Iggy and started on Fang, standing next to his swing.

"You starting school too?" she asked.

"Yep," said Fang.

"That's totally awesome. I wonder if you'll be in any of my classes," she said in a giggly voice, trying to flirt. I decided I _really_ didn't like these girls and rolled my eyes at her.

"Sorry, but we really have to go get our siblings and leave - we're supposed to get home by 5, and we're going to be late."

I was up and walking away from the swings before anyone could say anything. Iggy and Fang caught up with me quickly. "What the heck did you do that fo– oh."

"What?" Fang and I asked at the same time,

"Nothing. I see how it is."

"Sorry to tell you this, Ig, but you can't see anything."

"Ha, ha. Fine, if you're going to deny it, let's go get the kids."

I shrugged at Fang but he seemed lost in thought all the way down to get Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. Everyone was acting weird today.

We hopped back over the fence around 7, and started a great search for all the school supplies. There were backpacks for each of us with our names on them, as well as binders, pencils, erasers etc. I was pretty sure Jeb had bought out the whole office supplies store and then hidden the supplies in our house just so we could spend a half an hour finding them.

Iggy eventually started cooking dinner - we found out that the fridge was completely stocked (there was also a full pantry and another fridge full of food in the garage) - and we ate dinner, feeling like a real family. I think it was probably a bit weird that I actually missed, say, roasted rabbit when confronted with a nice, normal (and delicious) dinner made by Iggy.

I sent the kids to bed after dinner. Iggy was listening to the TV in the family room, and I was relaxing (yeah, right) in an armchair will a full stomach.

Eventually Iggy left to go to bed as well. Fang and I ended up sitting on the couch watching CSI and arguing over who the perpetrator was.

"I still think it's the photography teacher - she looks shady to me," I said.

"The cheerleader guy definitely had something to do with it, though," he replied.

"Maybe it was the best friend."

"No, she just died."

"What? How?"

"Someone threw a camera at her head and she got a crack in her skull. Blood leaked out of it and covered the part of her brain that told her to breathe."

"Really?"

"Yep. So no more throwing cameras."

"Aren't our skulls thicker?"

"Well, yours definitely is."

I smacked him on the arm. "Jerk."

"Max?"

"What?"

"I think we shouldn't fight."

I looked at him confusedly. We'd just been kidding around. Or, at least, I thought we were.

"I don't mean right now," he explained hastily. "Just, the last time…"

"When did you get so 'touchy feely?'"

He shot me a reprimanding look. "Like, let's just not do anything that could end up badly. You remember –"

"Yes, I remember, Fang. But I'm not leaving again, and you're not leaving again. You promised."

"Yeah."

I sighed. "Fine. Let's not fight."

It was only slightly more awkward the rest of the night.

**Haha. I'll give you a hint – Fang is trying to stop them from fighting – it's not going to help all that much. They might fight a little – or a whole, whole lot. You'll just have to wait and see. And, don't worry, the story gets better. I'm hoping, at least, seeing as this is only the second chapter. And we'll meet some new people soon. Remember the blond girl from the park? If any of you were wondering, she comes back. Can we say bitch?**


	3. Day the first: Part 1

The Suburbs – Chapter 3

**Hola. Chapter 3. I would like to say that I'm hoping that my story isn't sounding like anyone else's. I have read maybe one or two of these kinds of stories and have not stolen anything. In fact, I was at camp when I thought of ideas included in this story so if you think at all that something I have written is in any way related to your story, please, please, PM me and I can give you my reasoning and/or thinking behind putting it in the story.**

**Anyways, sorry, I am writing this while everyone is bugging me to update Bored in a Library, but I just can't stop the inspiration flow here. I've been wanting to write this since summertime and although it is a bit cheesy, I am just a bit in love with my plotline. I just felt the need to write something…dramatic.**

**Also, I would very much appreciate reviews. Although, I think I am getting very spoiled in that matter. I mean, 34 reviews for 2 chapters is very good, right? Yes. But I am still admittedly very spoiled. So, let's review!  
**

I woke up to an alarm blaring in my ear. I was sooo going to kill Jeb. I sat up and looked around, confused. I was in my bedroom, but had no recollection of coming up the stairs last night.

Actually, I only remembered half of the third CSI episode, so I assumed I had fallen asleep around then. What I didn't remember was Fang waking me up and dragging me to my room. Huh.

Whatever, it didn't matter. What did matter was me being sent to my misery today. Ugh. High school.

I was wrapped tightly in the covers. The second I got out of them I was freezing and grabbed some clothes and a jacket from the closet. (Jeb had filled it with clothes exactly my size – he also knew what I liked to wear - there was one dress, which I planned to either throw out or give to Nudge the first opportunity I got) Wasn't this supposed to be California? As in warm, sunny, girls in bikinis all over the place? Sunnyvale so wasn't living up to its name.

I walked into Nudge and Angel's room, not surprised to find Nudge still sleeping. "Nudge," I called, softly shaking her, "Nudge, it's your first day of school. Time to rise and shine." She sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was, then finally remembered.

Her eyes opened wide and she jumped out of bed, quite unlike her. She hurried over to her dresser, looking at all the clothes Jeb had picked out for her. "Look how much clothes there are!" she exclaimed. "I can't pick."

She called Angel, who was already dressed, over to help her pick out an outfit.

"Just be downstairs in 5 minutes," I told them as they examined something purple with sparkles on it. They nodded.

I pounded on Fang's door. "5 minutes!" I called.

He grunted. "Mmm, sure."

"I mean it!" I called.

"Go away, _Mom. _5 minutes, got it," he mumbled sleepily.

I heard bed springs squeak. Satisfied, I moved on to Iggy and Gazzy.

"Guys! Up and at 'em! Downstairs in 5!"

I heard movement from inside, then a loud thump. "What was that?" yelled Iggy angrily.

"My backpack," answered Gazzy.

"Why the hell would you leave your backpack in the middle of the floor?"

"I didn't want to forget it," Gazzy mumbled.

"You okay, Ig?" I asked.

"Fine," he said, still a little ticked.

I heard Gazzy say something as I went back into "my" bedroom. I pulled a brush through my hair and threw it into a ponytail. Jeb had put new sneakers in the closet, but I ignored them and put on my tattered ones, digging in the drawers for some socks. I ran downstairs and, feeling like I needed to do something useful, made lunches for everyone using a bunch of prepackaged food from the pantry.

Iggy walked into the living room, eyes closed, and collapsed on the couch.

"Breakfast?" I asked him. "Get up or I'll do it."

An expression of mock horror on his face, he got up from the couch. "Fine. Get me some bacon from the fridge, and a pan."

I did as he asked and soon we had bacon ready and pancakes on the way. I poured some juice from the fridge and put some napkins on the table.

Fang came downstairs. "Sit," I ordered him. "Breakfast's almost ready."

"Yes ma'am."

Loud thumps on the stairs signaled the arrival of Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy.

"We're ready!"

"Hey, guys. Eat," I ordered as I finished setting the table.

"You're in a very commanding mood this morning," Iggy observed.

"When is she not?" asked Gazzy.

It was probably because I was nervous, but I didn't tell any of them that and sat down and ate my pancakes.

"Nudge, why do you smell funny?" Iggy asked.

Now that he mentioned it, I could smell something fruity wafting from her.

"There was body spray in my room," she said, almost defensively, and blushed slightly. "Angel said that boys like it when you smell good." She piled 5 pancakes on her plate.

Fang snorted and Iggy and Gazzy started cracking up. "Nudge, I think you might have put a little too much of that stuff on," I said.

"Yeah. You're not supposed to use the whole bottle in one day," said Gazzy, waving his hand in front of his face.

"Okay guys, that's enough. Nudge, you might want to go wash up a little. Fang, clear the table, then we have to get going. We have 15 minutes to get to school."

"Should me and Gazzy go hop the fence?" asked Angel.

"No, your school doesn't start until 8:30. You guys can hang out here for a while longer. Nudge, c'mon, you should start walking too."

"Bye, Max," Angel said as I headed out the door. I kissed the top of her head.

"Bye, sweetie. Be sure to keep a look out for anything suspicious at all, okay?"

"Okay, Max!" she bounced off into the family room.

I walked outside, and found that it was still pretty cold.

"Isn't this supposed to be California?" I asked Fang, who was wearing only a black T-shirt.

"Oh please," Iggy said. "We've been so much colder. It's probably only like, 40 degrees."

"But this is _Sunnyvale. _It's supposed to be _sunny._" I eyed Fang appraisingly. "Aren't you cold?"

He shrugged. "Not really. We going?"

"Yep," I said, and marched down the driveway.

Nudge was walking down Poplar, the street leading away from the park, and we were walking down the street out house was on (our house was kind of where Poplar turned into Lupine) so we parted instantly. I found myself nervous that Nudge was walking all by herself, but tried not to let it show.

"She'll be fine," Fang said, reading my expression carefully.

"How do you _do _that?" I asked.

"He's just psychic like that," Iggy said. "Either that, or – ow!" Fang elbowed him in the ribs. What was that about?

Iggy quickly changed the subject.

"Do we have to do a bunch of crap in the office before we get to school? I want to meet the people."

Fang coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "girls."

"It's not my fault you said those girls in the park were hot!"

"It's not my fault they were," muttered Fang. Iggy laughed, and I walked in a furious silence the rest of the way to school.

"Here we are," Fang announced unnecessarily as we arrived in front of a group of buildings. Compared to the school near Anne's this place looked like…well, it looked like crap.

There were kids hanging around in small groups all around the front of the school. I spotted the blond bimbo Barbie from the park and was glad Iggy was blind.

We walked up to the front office, Fang brushing against Iggy's jacket every few steps. The place was small, stuffy, and smelled faintly like a dentist's office. Trying to keep my paranoia to a minimum, I stepped up to the lady at the front desk. "Excuse me?" I asked. "We're new."

"Oh, of course, dear. You're…uh…Max, Nick, and Jeff?" I nodded. "These are your schedules. If you need directions to any of your classes, ask a teacher or another student, and school gets out at three o'clock. First period starts in a few minutes. Welcome to Wilcox!" she smiled at me in a very un-threatening way.

"Thank you," I said quickly, and then Iggy, Fang, and I got the heck out of there.

We compared schedules quickly. I had Math, chemistry, foods, and study hall with Fang, and the same with Iggy except he was in my history class instead of chemistry. Fang and Iggy also had English together while I had gym.

**(Yes, I have this big detailed chart of everyone's schedules in my notebook that took about ten minutes. I am in love with it. It's red and neat and pretty, and also includes 4 other characters, one of whom may be a blond bimbo Barbie.)**

"Wait – Iggy, what do you have third period?"

"I don't know. Fang, what do I have 3rd period?"

"Gym."

"What do you have?"

"Max and I have chemistry."

Iggy laughed. "I just wanted to he–"Before he could finish or we could ask him what was so funny, the bell rang, signaling the start of first period.

"Crap," Iggy swore, and we ran as fast as we could to the correct wing, Iggy's finger in Fang's belt loop.

When we got to math in…uh…A10, we tried to slip in as quietly as we could. Guess what? It didn't work.

"Are you Nick, Max and Jeff?" A plump faced, falsely cheery looking woman asked.

"Yes," we answered at the same time.

"Late on your first day – not a very good impression, is it? Please take some seats."

We took some chairs in the back of the classroom, ignoring the stares we got from the kids in the class – some of which were Barbie Girl and her friend. The teacher (Mrs. Harris, according to my schedule) went back to her math lecture.

----

"Mr. Batchelder, please come up to the front of the room," Mrs. Harris called Iggy once she told the class to work on their homework independently.

Iggy got up and started walking down the aisle between the seats. He heard a sudden movement on the carpet in front of him and stopped, tapping against the nearest desk, until the person moved their foot.

Hearing Max laugh from behind him, presumably at the guy's face, he continued up to the teacher's desk.

"Yes?" he asked.

"You are blind, correct?" she spoke slowly and clearly, like she was talking to a baby.

"Yes."

"I've seen that _your _schedule doesn't match your friend _Nick's _schedule. Would _you _like _me to ­_re-_change _your schedule to match Nick's?" She had that same fake, cheery voice as before. Did she think that because he was blind he was mentally retarded as well? He was getting pissed off.

"I don't require any assistance, especially regarding my daily schedule, but thank you for your concern," he replied in his own falsely cheery voice. He could deal without Max and Fang if he really needed to, and he was not going to put up with this lady.

"Um, well…" she sounded taken aback, like she was shocked Iggy actually had a vocabulary, and replied in a more normal voice. "If you don't want me to rearrange your schedule, I'll assign someone with all your classes to help you if you need anything."

"I don't–"

"Abagail Simons?"

Iggy heard light footsteps approaching the desk.

"Yes?" a smooth girl's voice asked.

She typed a few things into the computer. "I see that you're in all of Jeff's classes. I want you to make sure to help him if he needs anything – you can lead him to each class and make sure he doesn't get lost."

"Uh…Sure," Abagail replied, sounding embarrassed.

"I've noticed you don't have 6th period with Jeff –"

"I can still do it," she said quickly.

"As I was saying, Jeff, you have study hall with Max and Nick 6th period, so you'll be fine." Of course he would be fine. He would be more fine if she would leave him alone.

"You are dismissed," Mrs. Harris said.

As he was walking back to his desk with Abagail, he said, "I'm not some dumb baby who needs help with every little thing, so don't–"

"It's okay," she interrupted him. "I know."

"Then why did you–"

"I…" she was really nervous. "I just thought you were really cool, and kinda cute, and I…I wanted an excuse to hang out with you."

He smiled in her general direction. This day was looking up already.

----

Second period I had English with Iggy. Unfortunately, he was talking to a short girl with black hair that hung just above her shoulders. The whole, entire hour.

I was glad he'd made a friend, but had nobody to talk to and just listened to the crazy history teacher ramble on about something or other.

By the end of the period he ad the whole class convinced that if you put your phone number in your agenda, your identity would be stolen and that Gatorade would kill you. Actually, though, I liked him, despite the fact that half the kids in the class were scared of him.

I watched Iggy across the room, watched the girl blushing heavily as Iggy's hand flitted across her face. Then I watched Iggy laugh as he felt the heat rise in her cheeks.

I smiled. Iggy would probably get hell from Fang and Gazzy for this later – I better let him enjoy it while he can.

The bell rang, interrupting the teacher's latest rant, and I hurried out of there, figuring the new girl could take care of Iggy.

I found Fang waiting for me outside Chemistry. "How was history?" he asked.

"Completely boring, but Iggy's got himself a girlfriend already."

"Is it that girl from math?" He asked. "What's her name…Abagail?"

"Yeah – the short one, with the black hair?"

"That's her."

"Well, she seemed nice." And with that I dragged him into class.

"Hi," I told the teacher, "We're new."

"Yes," she said. She was a pretty blond woman who looked to be in her twenties or thirties. I would have been suspicious if all the Erasers hadn't already been terminated. "Your names?"

"I'm Max and this is Nick."

"Okay, cool," she said, in a friendly tone. The teacher sounded very un-teacher-like. "Students? This is Max, and Nick. They'll be in our class for the rest of the year. Max, Nick, we've already assigned lab partners, so you two with have to be together until the next switch. You can use the table in the back." She smiled.

Fang and I scurried to the back of the classroom and sat down on two stools in front of a small table.

I looked around and was surprised to see a few girls behind me giving me the death glare, and a blond at the lab table next to us checking out Fang. I sighed. What was with the girls that go to this school? You'd think they'd have something better to do with their lives than stare at innocent bystanders who may or may not be slightly good looking. And didn't any of them have boyfriends? They should be thinking about _them. _

"You seem to be very popular," I muttered to Fang. He smirked and looked around the class, but didn't say anything.

"Class, please look at the overhead, today we'll be taking notes," said the teacher, cheery as ever as she turned off the lights.

I retrieved my notebook from my bag and pretended to copy down what she was writing – I found I knew most of it, probably coming from growing up in a top secret science lab.

"Well, this day _sure _is fun," I muttered sarcastically to myself.

Fang glanced at me. "Know this stuff?" He asked quietly.

"Yep."

Why did I notice that he looked good when the room was dark like this? Was I turning into one of the sluts so commonly found in this school? I really hoped not.

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. _Later, _I told myself, _when you can think clearly._

I actually focused on the notes the rest of the period.

**Sorry but I will add the next chapter soon, I just didn't want to make this one too long, because I'm only on like, 4th period and already have a ton of pages on word. So yeah…**

**Now is the time to review if you have anything other to say than "update soon." C'mon people, I can take crticizm, comments, and all that jazz. Let's see it! **


	4. Day the first : Part the second

Stuck in the Suburbs – Chapter 4

**Part 2: Sorry, I just don't really like to make chapters very long. They take me forever to write, and I'm only on chapter 4. I am very thankful that this is the first story ever that I have an actual outline of, otherwise, I would probably lose my beautiful inspiration.**

**PS: This chapter should be good, because I wrote it while I was sitting through English watching this girl who is a… well, I don't like her very much, and she and all her irking blondness was flirting with the guy I like – Well, I can't exactly mouth things at him, and of course there is this whole thing with me being the stupidest person ever a year ago and giving him a very **_**valid **_**reason to hate me, so he can technically flirt with all the irking blond people he wants…well, there is much more I would like to say on this subject, but seeing as this is posted on the internet, I'll save it for zuzu later so…just…enjoy the chapter. **

Fang and I walked to our foods class when the bell rang. We sat at a table with Iggy, Abagail, and another boy and girl we didn't know.

The teacher called our names on the attendance list, and after that didn't even acknowledge our presence. I think I liked her – she didn't bother us and let us figure out what we needed to. She started talking, and I turned to Iggy.

"Ready to show up the whole class?" I asked him.

"You can cook?" Abagail asked, barely surprised. "I guess I should've known you'd be the one who would be helping _me _with everything." She blushed.

"She's blushing," Fang told Iggy.

"Figures," Iggy mumbled, and she blushed more. Fang didn't even bother.

A few minutes later, after Abby – she told us to call her that (she apparently hates the name Abagail) – helped Iggy get a feel of the mini-kitchen, he was off doing his thing. A group of spectators gathered around, probably amazed the blind guy could cook. It was times like these that I was really proud of my flock.

I noticed Fang wasn't next to me and looked around for him. Barbie-girl was off in the corner flirting with him, while he nodded his head every once in a while. Our gazes met, and I raised my eyebrows at him. He rolled his eyes.

"Max, right?" A girl from my table asked, interrupting. She had brown hair that went just past her shoulders and freckles – I remembered her vaguely from my history class. "I'm Kelly. Are you as bored as I am?"

"Definitely," I smiled, wondering when she would leave, and continued to glare over her shoulder at Fang, who was now actively participating in his conversation. I mouthed "you suck" and him, and he smirked. I stuck out my tongue.

"Oh, you and Nick are friends?" Kelly asked. "He's pretty cute." When I groaned, she added, "but totally not my type, so don't worry."

"What?" I asked distractedly. "No, I really don't care who's his type and who isn't. But Barbie over there sure is enjoying herself."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "Yep. That's _Rachel Rose. _Tall, blond, blue eyes, huge boobs, the whole enchilada. She thinks she's the most popular girl in the school, seeing as she's dated all the jocks, but we all know there's a differencebetween being popular and being "a popular."

I scowled. "Well, that sounds like _exactly _his type."

"I just wonder if he knows who he's talking to," she added. "He could be in the 'in crowd' –" here she added air quotes "if she invites him to sit with her at lunch. God, this school is pathetic."

I snorted. "He'll be ecstatic."

After a moment of silence, she asked, "So how do you know Nick?"

"We pretty much grew up together, I guess. I've known him forever." Which was true. The first memories I have are of his cage being brought into my room at the school I remember feeling relieved that I wasn't the only one with the weird things on my back.

"And he likes you?" Uh, no.

"No!"

"You like him?"

"NO!"

"Well, Rachel will be thrilled that she has no competition."

As I was attempting to keep the thoroughly disgusted look off my face, Fang walked over to our table and sat down in his chair.

"Yo," he said, looking bored.

"Hey," replied Kelly, without even blushing or like, fainting to the floor. I might actually like this girl.

"So, how was your conversation with Blondie over there? Thanks for ditching me, by the way."

"You're welcome," he replied. "And it was interesting. She wanted to know if we were dating."

I almost fell over in my chair. "What! Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but she was pretty pushy about it."

"Well, it's obvious why," Kelly said matter-of-factly. "Three new students in one day. Two boys and a girl. You two kept shooting looks at each other and he," she jabbed a pencil at Fang, "followed you to your seat, not even really thinking of sitting everywhere else, and by the looks he's giving you, you can tell he would follow you to the end of the Earth. You say you've known him forever, and you look absolutely nothing alike. It's natural for people to jump to conclusions."

I stared at her with wide eyes. I couldn't picture Fang as _anyone's _boyfriend, especially mine. He's just - _Fang. _I didn't even know what was going on between us.

_Nothing. That's what's going on, Max. Absolutely nothing – he's my brother._

_Max, thinking that isn't going to change how you feel._

_Get the freak out of my head, Jeb, _I snarled in my mind, annoyed.

"Well, we're not dating, and we're not going to start anytime soon. So don't hold your breath."

"Okaaaaaaaaay then. Do you guys wanna sit with me and my friend at lunch? We _have _been getting kind of bored lately.

I saw Fang shrug slightly out of the corner of my eye. "Sure," I said.

----

"Here," announced Kelly, and she stopped at a table. A boy with brown hair and hazel-ish eyes was already sitting there.

"Hey Kelly," he said, then noticed us. "Who're your friends?"

"These are Max, Nick, and Jeff. And you know Abby – she's in your math and foods classes."

"Hey," he smiled nonchalantly. "Welcome to our secluded getaway, completely with ABC gum and sticky soda spills. Relax. Breathe. Enjoy." He leaned back casually on his bench.

Kelly rolled her eyes. "Just sit and try to ignore him."

No sooner had our butts touched the benches then Barbie-girl's high pitched girly voice sounded from behind Fang. "Nick, wanna sit with us?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Yeah, Fnick, go sit with them," Iggy mocked. Loud, girlish giggles erupted form Rachel's table. "And take me with you, I'm begging!"

I knew Fang was looking at me so I carefully kept my eyes on my meatloaf and shrugged.

When Fang and Iggy left, I looked up to see Abby looking a little pissed and felt sorry for her.

Jack noticed too. "It's okay. I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but Jeff really isn't Rachel or her posse's type. Nick, however…" he scowled. "I just don't get why she likes _him._"

The horror-struck look on Kelly's face clued me in as to who _her _type was. Well, that's one mystery solved – and I also realized I was now sitting at a table full of jealous idiots. Well, that's just completely wonderful.

By the end of lunch, I knew anything I needed to know about all the teachers and students of Wilcox High School. Rachel's and her friends Faith and Denise apparently ran the school. Since Rachel seemed infatuated with Fang, Jack said, she was going to cling on to him. And apparently she doesn't like letting go.

I sighed. One day, and I'm already caught up in stupid high school drama. This was completely pathetic. On the run, never having a place to sleep, fighting Erasers, trying to figure out my completely screwed up destiny? That seemed so simple compared to getting involved in cliques and having to compete with the most popular girl in the school for my best friend.

_Why me? _I asked myself desperately

_You can overcome any obstacles, Maximum, if you put your mind to it._

_Well, thanks for the pep talk. Do you have any bright ideas as to how to bring Fang down to Earth?_

_Would you try talking to him?_

_That's not funny._

_Not even you can control Fang. If what he's doing is bothering you, then do something about it. _

_Like what? _I yelled – inside my head, of course.

Of course, I got no answer. Just typical.

"Max?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah?"

"You okay? You were looking weird for a second."

"No, I'm fine." _Just talking to the voice inside my head._

That was when the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. English with Mrs. Johnson. I remembered that I didn't have this period with either Iggy or Fang and asked Kelly and Jack about their schedules.

"Kelly's got Gym right now, and I've got the oh-so-thrilling English. You?"

"I've got English right now, too."

As I started walking towards class with Jack, I saw Kelly giving me a worried look, as if she was almost rethinking inviting me to sit with them.

"Don't worry," I told her as I passed, "He's totally not my type."

Jack was really nice, and it was easy to feel comfortable around him. We talked through English class and I realized that I had made a few friends already, even with Fang or Iggy in most of my classes. I just _shock _myself sometimes. Soon, I was going to go to a sleepover and throw pillows and gab about cute guys. Like I was, you know, in the same species or something. Crazy, huh?

Of course, half the things he talked about seemed completely unnecessary, but soon I was seriously going to figure out the whole human thing. Too bad in school they didn't give those survival tests: like, go out into the forest and survive for three days, no food, no shelter, fend for yourself, instead of some dopey thing like how to spell a list of words. I would have _so _kicked butt.

6th period. I said bye to Jack, who had chemistry next, with Kelly, and of course, Barbie-girl (he seemed to find this a very pleasing fact). I headed off to study hall, where I would see Fang and Iggy.

When I got there Fang, Abby, Iggy and I sat at a table. I was also slightly pleased to see that Barbie-girl wasn't in the vicinity, and neither was her friend.

The teacher gave us a short rant about being quiet that nobody listened to, and seeing as I had no homework that I wouldn't have worked on anyways, I leaned over to Fang.

"How was lunch?" I asked.

He shrugged, doodling idly on a piece of paper. "Fine, I guess."

I was irritated. "What did B-Rachel want?"

"Brachel? She wanted to know why you were being so nosy," he replied.

"Just wondering," I said. "What did you have fifth period?"

"Social Studies."

"Did you have that crazy teacher? What's his name, Mr. Penning?"

"Yeah. Something about Gatorade killing you, right? I wasn't really paying attention."

"Yeah, of course you weren't, Fnick," Iggy mocked. "You have history with _Rachel Rose."_

"What?" Abby asked.

"She was totally coming on to him at lunch. It was funny, actually." Iggy explained. "She wanted the whole table to know who she had first, 4th, and 5th period with."

Abby looked relieved, and Fang almost looked embarrassed.

He shrugged, keeping an impassive face, and I frowned. "This is one heck of a long day," I muttered.

"Tell me about it," Fang, Iggy, and Abby said at the same time, and then we all started laughing. Well, Iggy and Abby were cracking up and Fang and I both smiled – I was way too tense for a hysterical laughing shtick. The teacher glared.

----

I walked into gym with some relief. Once it was over, I could get back to the house and try to convince the flock that this was all a horrible idea. We could spend our days sliding down railings covered in razors and landing in pools of alcohol. I think I'd like that better.

Then, of course, I noticed a certain blond, pretty, slutty dressed girl in a corner of the gym. _Great._

I got my gym clothes on the first day – the class was in the middle of basketball.

Did you know that crossing your fingers does absolutely nothing? That praying to any god at all that you won't be on one specific team does nada? That even if you promise that you'll never tell Nudge to shut up or tease Fang ever again if you just please won't get stuck on Barbie's basketball team, it does zippo?

Yep. So guess where I landed?

Has anyone ever noticed how obnoxious giggles are? Especially when they of the loud, annoying kind? I don't think you can ever really appreciate this fact until you have been on a basketball team with Rachel Rose and a bunch of her little zombies.

"So, what's Nick like?" asked one with red hair.

"Quiet," I told them, shooting a basketball into the net with perfect precision.

"Are you two dating?" asked another one who had black hair that had been died blond.

"No," I answered through clenched teeth.

"So, like, do you mind if we ask him out?"

"Like you would have the nerve!" another blond one argued.

"I would," replied the brunette we'd seen in the park. "He's hecka cute."

"He is," agreed Barbie. "I'll probably ask him tomorrow." This was obviously met by a large profusion of giggles.

"Unless, of course, Max here has an objection?" Barbie glared at me – a look so vicious it would have made anyone who was not me flinch.

I said nothing.

Rachel smirked. "That's what I thought."

**Now, let's all say "I want to ring her little head. I just want to take my truck and run over her head like a can of tomatoes!"**

**Yes, yes, yes, all good stuff…**


	5. Boy Issues and Eyebrows

Stuck in the Suburbs – Chapter 5

**Hola. Chapter 5. Will get caught up on the rest of the flock before I go back to Max and Fang. **

**PS: Jean-Luc, if you read this, which you won't, don't get mad at anyone at our school. It's not our fault your eyebrows are so irresistible! And we don't like Jean-Luc, just his name, and his eyebrows. That's about it.**

Nudge _really _liked 7th grade. It was fun, except for all the learning, and she already saw 5 guys in her class that were boyfriend potential.

One in particular, Jean-Luc, was the only one who didn't roll his eyes when she passed Max's two-minute ramble rule.

He _was _kind of cute. He had this blond hair, and a ton of adorable freckles. And, of course, completely beautiful eyebrows. He was shorter than she was, but all the guys in the class were, so it wasn't like that was an issue.

Nudge had always wanted a boyfriend. It wasn't really one of those teenager spazzy things. It was because she had always wondered about Max and Fang – it seemed like they would get together soon, at least.

"Tiffany?" asked Nora, a girl in most of her classes who she was already friends with. "The bell rang, you know."

Nudge gathered up her books and headed over to her computers class with Mr. Dinges. His name was weird, in the way that it sounded completely dirty even though it wasn't. She told this to Nora, and Nora started cracking up.

"I wonder if he thought about changing his name," Nudge said, wondering. "I wonder if his mom kept her name when she married Mr. Dinges's dad. I probably would. I think Monica is a very pretty last name. Dingez doesn't sound right. It sounds like Dingus. It's not, like, a pretty name at all, when you think about it –"

Nudge stopped in the middle of her rant when she saw Jean-Luc smile at her from across the class. Jean-Luc and his eyebrows. Nudge loved his eyebrows. Everyone loved Jean-Luc's eyebrows.

_Yes! _She thought. She was pretty sure that would be considered flirting. Ever since she had arrived at her middle school T-minus a while ago, she had heard the word flirting a lot. Was she idiotic because she didn't know what that was?

She sat down in an empty chair near Jean-Luc and close to her new friend Hector and two of his friends, Ella and Emily. They were nice – really loud, and she liked them because they talked almost as much as she did. Hector sometimes tap danced, which was a bit weird, but Nudge decided that she didn't have the right to call anyone weird. Maybe that was normal behavior for average kids in the seventh grade.

In computers class, they were working on a project where you had to choose a career and a college and a place to live and all that stuff. Nudge couldn't decide what she wanted to be – Dr. Martinez's job was cool. She got to help animals and stuff. But Nudge wasn't sure if she could handle the lab-y smell all the time.

By the time she had decided that she was going to be a hair stylist, the bell had rung to end the period.

She hung out after school a while with Ella, Emily, Hector, and Hector's women, Kinsie and Kelsey (only Ella and Emily called them his women, apparently) but then she had to go because she was walking home.

_And_ Jean-Luc stopped her before she left and said, "I hope you had a good first day…I…um…"

Nudge smiled. "Thanks. This school looks really fun."

He smiled back, and she watched his wonderful eyebrows as he spoke. "Well, if you need anything tomorrow, you can ask me. Oh, and also, if my friends tell you anything that I said or did, don't listen to them."

"Sure. Mayve your friends were -" she cut herself off, not wanting to ramble in front of her new friend. "Bye."

"See ya," he said.

Then he walked off. Nudge stared at the back of his head. When he was gone she punched her arm into the air. "Yes!" she said, then started walking home, wondering about the rest of the flock and their first days.

Nudge really _really _liked the 7th grade.

----

Angel copied own some of the cursive letters of off the board. The day had been fun – she made friends with a girl named Chelsea, who was really nice. She played with Angel at recess and they had tons of fun.

But she was glad the day was almost over. She couldn't wait to get back to her home. It didn't matter what Max thought – this place was the best ever. She actually got to make friends who were her age and play and learn things.

_Okay, _Angel pushed the thought into her teacher's mind; _you can have free time now._

The teacher stopped in the middle of writing a letter on the board and turned to the class with a mildly confused look on her face. "Okay class," she said. "You guys can have free time now until the end of the day."

Angel tried not to feel guilty as she skipped over to Chelsea. "Let's go play one of the board games!" she exclaimed.

"Sure!" Chelsea said, her red pixie cut bobbing slightly as she jumped out of her seat.

They bounced off to go play. Angel checked the clock, wishing she could remember how to tell time. "What time is it?" she asked the teacher, who was standing nearby, sweetly.

"You'll get out of school in about 5 minutes. Do you have any big plans for today?"

"Nope. I'm just really excited to see my brothers and sisters. It was their first days too."

"What schools do they go to?"

"All of them, I think. The middle and the High school. Wil – something. Like Wilpox. I'm going to play now, okay?"

The teacher smiled. "Sure, go back to your board game, sweetie," she said, patting Angel's curls gently.

Angel seriously loved second grade.

----

The phone rang. It was Kelly. (Caller ID people, I'm not psychic)

Yes, I had given her my phone number. What, did you think I was some sort of paranoid freak or something? Psh. Never.

"I've got it!" I yelled to the general vicinity and picked up the phone.

"Hey," I answered.

"Max! Hi!"

"Wow. You're happy to see me."

"Yeah, I have an issue, and I didn't have anyone else to talk to."

"What about Jack?" I asked, sitting down on the couch and flipping through channels on the TV.

"Well…it's kind of…about him…"

"Oh." _Boy issues. _What did she think I was? A teenage girl?

"See…I kind of maybe have a tiny little crush on him…"

"I figured."

She laughed. "I figured you figured. Anyways, I'm trying to figure out if he likes me at all. Because it seems like he doesn't."

"I don't know. I thought you guys had a thing..."

"Yeah. I'm just worried about Rachel Rose. I hope he knows he's not in her league." Kelly sounded worried.

"Well, I don't know, I'm not really an expert on these things, but Barbie-girl's infatuated with Fang, so we don't have to worry about her."

"Who's Fang?"

"What?" _Did I really say Fang? _"Sorry, I was watching TV. I meant Nick, obviously. She seems to like him and not Jack..."

"Well, just because she doesn't like him doesn't mean he can't like her…"

"But everyone knows Jack really loves you deep down."

"I wish. We've been friends since ever, and it's never seemed like he's even looked at me that way. What is it with those stupid popular blonds? I mean, it's like they just exist to screw up everyone else's lives. Of course, if she was a perfectly lovely person, I might feel differently, but she's Rachel Rose."

"Yeah. I know. I have gym with her and all of her cronies. And no Nick or Jeff at all. I am totally in for it."

"That sucks for you. Jack and I have chemistry with her and he's drooling all period. It's pretty pathetic, actually."

"You should see the girls drooling over Nick."

"I already have – it's too bad Rachel's got her hands on him. I think even if he wanted to, he couldn't _not _hang out with her now."

"Nick knows how to stand up for himself."

"I never said he didn't. I was saying she will make him not _want _to stand up for himself."

"Ugh."

"But, I've heard that there's another guy she liked. His name is Brent, and he's the captain of the football team."

"Uh, I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, okay."

I hung up the phone and sank my head into a pillow. Was it possible that I just had a conversation with another girl about the guy she liked? Did I give advice? No, I didn't. That was good.

But when she had added the other guy in, I guess I just kind of freaked out. This wasn't me. When I thought about gabbing about guys, I wasn't being serious.

But maybe I was just a bit good at it. I had appeared normal to all these people, right? So obviously I had done a bunch of things right.

And besides, just because I was a freak with wings did _not _mean that I was not also a teenage girl. I did _some _things normal kids do. It wasn't my fault I had missed out on some opportunities.

I remembered when I thought I was lucky because I didn't have to have a routine, go to school everyday. It was too late, though. Everything everyone had been saying just kind of danced around in my brain. R_emember to have fun and try to experience things other people your age would do_. _It's a home and a school, not a torture chamber._

Maybe I should try to be normal. Have fun, act human for a while. If we were going to be here for – ugh – forever, then I was going to have to start relaxing, maybe even enjoying our time. Maybe I should at least try to be happy for the flock, who loved this place for no apparent reason.

Okay, that's it. I would be happy – content, maybe. Content. A much better word. I would be content. As long as Barbie didn't come anywhere within ten feet of me.

My resolution was made. I'd try harder to be normal. Maybe I'd do my thing and let Fang do his.

**Yeah. Nothing exactly happened, but I just needed to make Max try to be normal, so I could make her have reeal conversations with people. Make sense? Good. Review!**


	6. Fang's the New Ken?

Stuck in the Suburbs – Chapter 6

**I do believe this would be the part of the story where I start making it get interesting. However, I have currently lost track of my Sexy Outline, which, if you can believe it, does indeed have the words "Sexy Outline" written across the top. It's not like I haven't memorized it anyways…**

**Oh, well, never mind, because I just found it on top of the heating vent, which is conveniently located on the floor of my house. So I found it! And I've also realized that I should add more to it, and maybe make it as pretty and neat as my beautiful schedules chart.**

**Now someone for some reason in playing White and Nerdy really loudly in the living room…I should probably go check that out…**

"Nick?" Rachel asked. It was a few days after they had been admitted to the school, and she had stuck to him like glue since then.

Fang glanced across the math classroom. He saw Max with Jack and Kelly, her new best friends. She seemed to be letting up on her paranoia a little, and Fang was glad for that. Maybe she could actually enjoy her time here a little. She didn't even seem to mind him hanging out with Rachel as much as she did before.

"Nick?" Rachel asked, annoyed now. Fang turned back to her.

"What?"

"Well…"she seemed embarrassed. "I was wondering if you maybe would like to go somewhere, sometime…you know…with me. I mean, you don't have to! If you don't want to…I just thought, since we've been hanging out and stuff…"

"Rachel, I –" Fang wanted to tell her that he wasn't sure he could really date her. He couldn't really picture himself with anyone other than Max anymore.

"No, it's stupid, I shouldn't have asked, I know you like Max and you guys…just forget it, okay?"

She turned away with tears in her eyes. What was she planning to do, run out of the classroom? And he guessed one date wouldn't be _so _horrible.

After all, she was pretty – almost as pretty as Max. She had bright blue eyes, long, wavy blond hair, and a nice body, if it wasn't too perverted to say.

He sighed. "When do you want to go out?"

She turned back to him, all signs of embarrassment gone. "Really, Nick?"

"Sure."

"Tonight, the movies. Pick me up at 7." She shoved an address into his hands confidently and walked away.

_What just happened? _Fang wondered.

----

Jack had been in a bad mood all day. Whenever Kelly tried to comfort him, he just snapped at her.

Kelly wondered why. Could it be because of the rumors that Rachel and Fang were going on a date? She would have asked Max, but knew that if Max heard about the rumors she would be worse than Jack.

She studied him carefully during foods. While attempting to decipher his expression, she found herself staring into his hazel eyes. She noticed the way his brown hair kind of fell into his eyes and the irritated way he shook his head to get rid of it.

"What are you looking at?" he snapped at Kelly.

She jumped a little, startled by his tone of voice. "S-sorry." She felt the heat rise in her cheeks.

His eyes softened a little. "Sorry, Kelly. I'm being kind of a jerk today, aren't I?"

"Well, that's one way to put it," said Max.

"Just a bit," said Kelly. "Want to tell us why?"

"No," he said, looking down under his desk. "But either way, I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"Yeah. So it's not my fault?"

"Of course not," he smiled, something he hadn't done all day. Kelly, unable to help herself, smiled back.

"Good. What time is it? Almost lunch? I'm starving."

----

"Hey, babe," said a voice behind me. I whirled around. A tall, blond boy was standing behind me, trying to look cool.

"Babe? Please tell me you're kidding."

He ignored me. "How 'bout I take you out sometime?"

"How 'bout never?" I snarled at him.

"C'mon," he said. "Dude, you should consider yourself lucky. I don't ask just anyone out."

The last thing I was feeling at that moment was lucky. "Lucky? That's funny. How about sickened, disgusted, repulsed…I'm sorry, are those too big of words for you?"

He stared at me dumbly.

"How about this: I'm not interested, _dude, _so get the hell away from me."With that I walked away to find Kelly and Jack.

I still didn't understand how oblivious those two were. How did Jack not notice that Kelly was practically in love with him? It was pretty ridiculous, to tell you the truth.

Fang, as usual, was walking to lunch with Rachel. She seemed a little overconfident today, and I made a mental note to fix that.

I had brought a lunch, but I purchased another one because I was hungry. Kelly and Jack looked at me funny when we sat down at our usual table.

"What?" I asked.

"_That _is a ton of food," observed Jack.

"Your point?" I asked, biting down into my Iggy-made sandwich.

"Are you going to eat all of that?" asked Kelly.

I wasn't used to this. The flock would consider what I was eating a snack. All part of being an adolescent bird-freak.

"Yes. I'm hungry, okay?"

"Yeah, Kelly, and what about you?" said Jack. "You barely eat anything, anymore – you going anorexic on us?"

"I most certainly am not! Jeez, yourebeing a pissy-bitch!"

"What? Look. A sandwich, Sunny-D, and chips. Not up to your standards, Kel."

"Maybe some people care about the amount of food they are putting in themselves," she eyed Jack's lunch – mostly a pile of chips and candy.

"Hello? Growing teenage boy here," he defended himself.

I was suddenly a bit tired of these two. Iggy and Abby still weren't here for some reason, and when they got here, I knew they would be too wrapped up in themselves.

So, I did what I'm famous for and made a snap-decision

Jack and Kelly were too busy bickering to notice me as I stood up from the table and walked across the crowded cafeteria.

Was it just me or was everyone staring in my direction? I stopped at Rachel's table.

Everyone there, including Fang, stopped what they were doing and stared. I didn't care if what I was doing was against some stupid rules. "I'm sitting here," I announced, enjoying myself as I watched Barbie's expression. Fang was almost smiling, too.

I elbowed him over and sat between him and some random guy.

"What are you doing here?" Barbie spat at me.

"What does it look like? Eating."

I wondered what she was thinking. It seemed like she was debating making everyone get up and leave me here. I think she had some idea that it would make me break down crying. I hope she knew I was just messing with her mind.

In the end she decided not to do anything. So I had won this round.

"What are you doing?" Fang's voice was barely audible in my ear.

I smirked. "What does it look like? Eating."

"Why?"

"Kelly and Jack got boring."

He chuckled quietly. Barbie had a look on her face so murderous that I wished I could take her outside and smack it off her plastic face.

It disappeared suddenly when Fang looked up at her. Then it turned into a smile. "Sure! You can sit here anytime you want, Max." She looked so sweet, she almost had me fooled.

I smirked at her when Fang wasn't looking.

Max: 1, Barbie: 0.

**Okay, shorter than usual, but so what. Wondering what happened to Iggy and Abby? Find out next chapter…**


	7. Barbie Will Die

Stuck in the Suburbs - Chapter 7

**Hey everyone. This is my favorite chapter I've written so far. I hope you like it...**

Iggy gathered up his things after foods class, and proceeded to walk to lunch with Abby. The crowded hallway seemed to press down on him, but he followed where she was leading him.

"Wait here for a minute," she said, stopping suddenly. "I'm going to the bathroom."

He did as she said, listening to the noisy hallway become quieter as kids headed off to lunch. He waited for her to get back for a while, thinking. He wished he could see her face. He tried to imagine it in his mind. He thought of the way her cheeks curved, her long eyelashes, her soft lips. She had said her eyes were brown.

He could hardly believe that he was thinking about her like this. A week ago, he had been just hoping he would meet a hot girl. It didn't really matter, though. He knew he was blind.

"Hey, you," he heard a deep voice a few feet away. They bumped into him.

"Watch where you're going!" the guy teased. "Oh wait, you can't!"

"That's the best you can come up with?" Iggy asked, sounding disappointed. "That's pretty pathetic."

He was shoved up against a locker. Iggy considered beating the guy up. He would get in trouble with the school, on one hand, and definitely Max. On the other hand, the guy deserved it, so Max couldn't be _that _mad. Plus, it would be fun.

"Not so cocky now, are you?" asked the idiot.

"Actually, I was trying to decide whether or not to beat the living crap out of you. But you've just decided for me. So I'll give you five seconds…"

"You think I'm scared of you?"

"I think you should be," Iggy replied calmly.

Iggy was wondering whether throwing a small explosive down the hallway was too extreme when he heard Abby's light footsteps and spelled the faint but sweet scent of her shampoo. "Jeff! Robert, what are you doing to him?" her voice sounded both frantic and incensed, and Iggy wondered how she managed it.

Iggy felt the hands holding him against the locker disappear immediately.

"Abby?" asked the guy – apparently named Robert.

"You jerk! I knew you were an idiot, but not that you would go this far!"

"I – I didn't – Abby!"

"Trying to pick on him – you think just because he's blind, he couldn't beat the hell out of you?"

"I just don't understand, Abby!"

"What do you mean?" Iggy could tell Abby was past angry – she sounded completely furious.

"I don't understand how you could be with this blind, retarded guy – why in hell would you like him over me?"

"You're still on this? Get over it, Rob! It was a year ago! I turned you down then, and I'll do it again! Is it really so hard to understand, after what you just did? You are an asshole, Robert, and you will always be an asshole!"

Iggy felt her grab his hand. "We're going to lunch!" she yelled, yanking him down the hall. "And I really hope I _don't _see you around!"

"But Abby!" Robert yelled, but Abby ignored him.

Iggy smirked. "He's lucky you came."

"Oh, I know," she still sounded furious. "I just saved his ass, and I'm not happy about it."

This was a side of Abby Iggy had never seen. He kind of liked it.

They walked off to lunch together.

--

I scowled at Barbie. I didn't want to give in to her, but she had been shooting me these looks all period and I was fed up.

"What?!"

"You mean you don't know?" she smiled at me.

"Do you want to know what I do know? I know you're –"

"I'm going on a date tonight."

"Your point?"

"Do you know who I have a date with?" She didn't wait for me to answer. "I have a date with your precious boyfriend."

"Who – you have a date with FANG?"

"No, I have a date with Nick…" she seemed confused. I didn't bother to correct my mistake – she wouldn't trouble her pretty blond head with too much thinking.

"Oh. Well, I hope you, uh, have fun. Is that all?" I tried to look completely unconcerned. I think I fooled her too, as she just scowled at me.

Then the teacher blew the whistle, so I couldn't say anything even if I had anything else to say.

I walked into the locker room, grabbing my clothes and heading for the stalls. The issue is you have to wait in line for a while, waiting for the self-conscious girls to get dressed. Jeez, people, I know you have self-esteem issues and everything, but some people actually need to use the stalls because they have _wings. _Yeah, you heard me. _Wings. _Let's move it, people.

I threw my clothes on the floor and proceeded to change. Fang on a date with Barbie? Completely ridiculous. I mean, if he was going to date at all, couldn't he chose a girl who was not a complete loser? She was a jerk, and a witch, and mean in general. How did he not see that?

Why did he have to keep doing this? Does he just go looking for the most idiotic people to date? And _why? _Why would you go around kissing people and then turn around and date complete bitches?

I tried to control my breathing. _It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. _I repeated the phrase in my head like a mantra and went to put my shirt on. But it wasn't there.

I looked around the stall, saw that my t-shirt and jeans were gone, as well as my undershirt and gym clothes, and barely suppressed a scream. Barbie had gotten one of her friends to do this.

So where was I? In a changing stall in the back of the girls locker room, in my bra and underwear that completely exposed my wings, about to scream my head off, or cry, or both.

I vaguely heard the bell ring to end the day. Even if I didn't care about walking home in my underclothes, I would be completely exposing my wings. If anyone saw me we would be gone, exposed, on the run. It was already a miracle nobody at this school knew about us or recognized us, but putting my wings on display would definitely be pushing it.

I let out a kind of strangled shriek. Now my only hope was for somebody to come looking for me. This _sucked. _

I guessed, though, if I could make it out of the locker room and to the back of the gym without being seen, I could take off and fly home, but that was risky – it was the middle of the day and I would most definitely be seen landing in the middle of a cluster of homes.

So guess what I did? I just sat there on the toilet and cried. This day could _not _get any worse.

"Max?" A voice rang through the locker room. Fang. "Max!"

"Nick? I'm in here!" I shouted. My voice was choked up.

"What are you doing? School ended a half an hour ago!" I heard Iggy.

"I can't come out!" I yelled, wiping my eyes with the back of my hands.

"Why the hell not?" Iggy yelled back, at the same time Fang noticed my distraught voice and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" I yelled, knowing the attempt at fooling Fang was pointless. My voice was returning to normal, at least. "Just – Abby's there, right?"

"She's at her locker. Why?"

"Just go get her and bring her in here!"

I heard Iggy run off. "Max? What happened?" yelled Fang.

"Why don't you ask your girlfriend?" I yelled back.

"You mean Rachel? What did she do?"

"She stole my freaking clothes!"

"You mean you're – in the – with no –"

"Yes!" I screamed.

"How did that happen?" he sounded like he was suppressing laughter.

"THIS IS NOT FUNNY!" I shrieked, tears of frustration coming to my eyes.

"What did Rachel have to do with this?" His words were calmer and more careful.

I didn't answer. Soon I heard two sets of footsteps running.

Someone, presumably Abby, ran into the locker room. Farther away, I could hear Iggy laughing as Fang told him what was going on, and I scowled.

"Max?" I could see her feet outside the stall. "What happened?"

I explained to her.

"I'll go get my gym clothes from my PE locker, hold on."

Thirty seconds later, she was back, and I dressed as quickly as I could. I walked out of the locker room, hoping I didn't look like a complete mess and glared at Fang and Iggy, daring them to laugh. They didn't.

Later, Fang assured me that Rachel couldn't have done it. She was the one who had asked him where I was. She had said that she hadn't seen me since gym, and was worried. She had said we were friends. And, she would have even helped look for me, but her parents really needed her to get home.

_Of course. And then she had to go save a kitten stuck in a tree, bring goodies to her sick grandmother, and volunteer to help at a blood drive. All in time for her date with Fang tonight._

Barbie. Will. Die.

**Review!**


	8. Fang's Date

Stuck in the Suburbs – Chapter 8

Fang was leaving to go on his date.

"You do know you're going out with the most evil girl in the world, right?" Max asked him.

"For the hundredth time, she did not steal your clothes. She was worried about you."

"She did! And do you not notice all the evil glares?"

"I think you're imagining things." Fang thought Max was a little jealous – okay, maybe a lot. Despite Max's constant attempts to talk Fang out of his date, Rachel was really nice. She just knew how to get what she wanted.

"Just don't be surprised when she slits your throat in the middle of the movie."

"It's okay. I can take her." He flexed his muscles to demonstrate this, and she rolled her eyes.

"It _was _her," she mumbled under her breath so Fang could barely hear.

He wanted to tell her that if only she was "sure about this" she could be the one going on a date with him. But she wasn't. So she couldn't.

Rachel, however, was definitely sure. Fang wasn't exactly planning on having more dates, but he wasn't telling Max that. She was funny when she was jealous.

He stepped outside – it was nice out, so he waited on the front porch for Rachel to pick him up. He had explained to her that he didn't have a car and his parents were out of town.

He heard her car coming before he could see it, and then there she was, in the back seat of a shiny black convertible with the top up. She was wearing a red top that was _very _low cut and exposed her belly button with a black overtop, as well as a black mini-skirt and high-heels. He wondered vaguely if she was cold, and made sure his mouth wasn't hanging open.

He smiled inwardly at the thought of Max's expression where she would no doubt be watching from one of the windows and said, "Hey," to Rachel.

She smiled hugely at him and motioned for him to get in the car. He did.

"My dad's driving us," she whispered. "But I told him not to say anything."

He shrugged. "That's fine."

The car ride was short and quiet. "You kids be good, now," said her dad.

Rachel rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car. "C'mon, Nick," she tugged him towards the front of the movie theater.

Once they got there she immediately started describing the plot of the newest chick flick. Fang, however, eyed the action film, wondering if the actors could show him anything he didn't know.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him, realizing he wasn't paying attention.

"Nothing. I just wish this line would move faster."

"Max didn't say anything about me, did she? You know I wouldn't do anything mean, right?"

"Yeah. Well, she said some stuff, but –"

"I'm just glad you know I'm not that kind of person," she frowned. "I know Max thinks I'm horrible. I have to prove to her that this was all a misunderstanding…"

Fang tried to remain firmly suspicious but her eyes were so…blue, and so penetrating that he forgot that he trusted Max's opinion more than anyone else in the world's.

"I think she's just jealous." Did Fang just say that? If he did, he didn't mean to. _Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max, Max._

She was still staring at him, so he looked away. "I think so too." She smiled and grabbed his hand as they finally bought their tickets (Fang paid, of course)

They walked into the theater of the movie Rachel wanted to see. Once they were sitting in the dark, Fang let his wings loose a little bit.

It was fairly open, as well, so it didn't make him too twitchy being in there, either. Then he remembered what he was watching and almost groaned. Let the torture begin.

Then again, Rachel had just grabbed his hand. Well, if he couldn't have Max…Maybe this wouldn't be _so_ bad.

--

I watched Fang leave with Barbie and her outfit, scowling.

_Breathe, Max. Who cares, anyways? Fang and Rachel, Fang and Rachel, get over it. Just because he kisses you doesn't mean anything about commitment, especially when you blew him off afterwards…_

"Maaaaaaax?" Nudge whined down the stairs.

"What?"

"Can we go flying?"

I heard stomping down the stairs, and then Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy were in the living room.

"Can we?" Nudge looked at me innocently.

"I think it's been too long since we've stretched out our wings – let's go."

I checked to see how dark it was outside – it was at least dark enough that we wouldn't be seen.

We called Iggy down, left a note for Fang and then we were up, up, up, baby, over the fence, behind the school, and in the air.

It felt so good to be up in the sky again. We got as high as we could go without being seen, but not so high that we'd turn into icicles. We tried to get to a more secluded area.

It felt so good to stretch out my wings after days of tucking them in tight. I dove, enjoy the sensation of the wind hitting my face and then pulled up sharply. I tried out my super speed for a minute, then circled back to where the rest of the flock was enjoying the air as well.

"We should do this way more often," I yelled to Nudge, flapping slowly to keep myself in place.

"I know! My wings are like, sore from going to school every day," she said. "Too bad Fang isn't here."

"He's enjoying himself, don't worry," Iggy told her, and Gazzy cackled.

I frowned, and Angel studied my expression.

"It's not like he didn't try with you, though, right?" she said. "And besides, he still loves you."

She must not have noticed my highly disconcerted expression because she flipped over in the air and started a game of air tag with Gazzy and Nudge.

I sighed, feeling the breeze ripple through my feathers, and wondered what Fang was doing right now.

--

Rachel walked Fang to the front door of "his" house. Wasn't this supposed to be the other way around? He didn't exactly care.

"I had a lot of fun," she said, and smiled. He wondered how in the world her teeth had gotten that straight. Braces? He couldn't imagine it.

She shivered. "It's freezing, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Fang said, glad he'd remembered to wear a jacket.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

She was about to turn away but stopped, and faced him again. Then she tiptoed and kissed him on the mouth, hard.

He didn't really want to kiss her all that much, but she _had _been pretty sweet the whole night, and besides, even though her lips weren't quite as soft as Max's, they felt good pressed against his. They kissed for a few seconds until she pulled away, and started walking off.

As she was leaving, her eyes scanned the windows of the house, evidently searching for something. What it was, Fang didn't know, but she seemed disappointed.

When she left, Fang shook his head. He hadn't thought of Max for most of the night – what had gotten into him? Now that those blue eyes were out of his sight, he felt kind of ashamed. How could she have done that to him? Max wouldn't find it very hard to tell him, he figured, but he wouldn't be asking her anytime soon.

He walked into the house, finding a note on the kitchen counter.

_Out flying. Be back in a few hours – Max._

So she hadn't been there when Rachel kissed him. He tried to feel relieved but couldn't quite pull it off – all he felt was a kind of disappointment.

Then, with nothing better to do, he turned on the TV and waited for the flock to get home.

**Please don't be too mad at Fang. He _is_ a guy, right? And the description says FAX, remember?**


	9. Fine

Stuck in the Suburbs – Chapter 9

**Hello. Chapter 9. I started this one during science class – the worst science teacher ever – and I was writing this with a class heading on it, and the teacher looks at my paper and is like "Some people are taking notes! They'll be ahead of the game." And then everyone else is glaring at me while they get out note paper. It was hilarious. I'm like, mouthing, "I'm not taking notes! It's fan fiction!"**

**Anyways, today I got this very painful paper cut on my middle finger, and I just lost my band-aid, so I'm typing without it – it's not actually that hard. This would explain it if there are more typos than usual, but I'll have my very trustworthy beta read it to make sure.**

I exchanged a gleeful look with Kelly. One of Barbie's cronies had just informed the class that a certain blond friend of theirs was home sick with the flu.

"Try not to look too disappointed," Fang muttered at me. Somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that he didn't look all that disappointed either.

"Well, that's good," Kelly said. "I think she was still planning on getting you back for sitting at her table 'without an invitation.'"

Fang and I exchanged a glance. Kelly still didn't know about the Locker Room Incident, and I planned to keep it that way. "Yeah," I said.

"Why'd you do that anyway? That was practically looking for trouble." Fang glanced at me in a "shall I explain?" kind of way.

"You and Jack were boring me," I told her simply.

Fang shook his head. "Max just has this thing for making very fast, stupid decisions, and getting herself in a lot of trouble." I didn't look at him.

Kelly kind of laughed. "Nobody's ever done that before. Try to stand up to her, I mean. So today you were probably in for it. She could turn the whole school against you if she wanted to."

I glanced at her and Fang. "Not the whole school."

"Well, me and Jack, no…Nick…maybe. Everyone else would be easy. Everyone believes everything she says. It's kind of freaky, actually…"

Fang sent her a glare. He was my best friend. He would never turn against me. Kelly, though, might not know that, seeing as he ditched me for _Rachel_ on the first day of school, and has being hanging out with her more at school than with me.

He would never do that. Even if Barbie was blond, blue-eyed, and perfect. Uh, I hoped. I really, really hoped.

----

"For heavens sakes, stop acting so depressed, Jack! She's not dead, she's sick with the flu!" Kelly finally burst in the hall. She was sick and tired of I'm acting like Rachel gone for the day was some great tragedy.

Jack blushed. "What are you talking about?"

"Give it up! You're done! You're cover is blown! You are completely infatuated with Miss Popular Barbie Doll!"

"I'm not," he defended himself, completely unconvincing.

"Jack, I don't even care anymore, God! But you need to get over yourself! She likes Nick!"

"Just because they went on one date–"

"Jack, she doesn't like you and never will! You are acting like a lovesick puppy and I'm fed up with it! You've been like this for days! If you're going to like someone, try choosing someone who isn't the biggest bitch in the school!" Kelly had tears in her eyes now, but he was too angry to notice.

"Just shut it, Kelly. You keep butting into my life. Just quit it, okay?"

"I'm your best friend! I'm supposed to butt! It's my job to stop you from liking the worst people possible!"

"I can like whoever the hell I want!" His comment drew several stares from passerby, who started to watch the fight with interest.

"Fine then!" she told him, turning around. "Like whoever! Just don't expect me to sit around watch it happen!" Kelly knew she was sounding like a complete drama queen, and didn't care. Jack didn't understand _anything. _

"What is that supposed to mean?" She couldn't help it; she turned back to look at his face. His eyes were chocolate brown, as always, but they were glaring at Kelly so hard she stared at the ground as she spoke.

"It's supposed to mean that you're an idiot, and I don't want to watch you all for the wrong person every time, so I'm not going to!"

"So you're not going to be my friend anymore? What is this, Kelly? Second grade?"

"No! You're just acting like a 7-year-old!"

"Kelly! You're going completely nuts! I didn't even _do _anything!"

"Jack, you jerk! You don't get it!"

"Get _what_? That you're being crazy?"

"That this isn't even all about Rachel! It's about you and me!"

"You and –"

"Have you even noticed how when she falls for someone else, you don't take it out on her, do you? No, you take it out on whoever's convenient! And guess what that makes me! Sure, you think you're still my best friend. You sit with me at lunch, but guess which table you're staring at the whole time? And you know what, Jack? I'm _done. _Maybe I don't want to be your _friend _anymore." She wondered if he noticed the stress she put on the word.

He didn't. "Fine! Maybe I don't want to be your friend either, if you're going to act like a psychopath all the time!"

"Fine! And y_ou _can try to go out with Rachel, if you want. Only when she turns you down, don't go complaining to me, asshole!"

"Fine!"

The bell rang. Kelly moved as far away from him as she could in the small hallway as they both headed for foods class in an angry silence.

----

I looked from Kelly to Jack, and back again. They, of course, were at the same table in class because those were their seats, but they hadn't spoken one word to each other the whole period.

I sent Fang and Abby looks that said _Do you know what's up? _But she shook her head and he shrugged. I was going to find this out, and soon.

"Kelly?" I asked carefully. She ignored me.

"Max?" Jack asked. "Can you please tell Kelly not to add so much flour to the batter? She's going to ruin the pancakes."

"Uh, Kelly. Jack says –" I started.

"She could hear him, Max," Fang said, rolling his eyes.

"Jack, now _you're _acting like a second grader. And please shut up, I am not adding too much flour." Kelly stirred the pancake mix with a little too much force. Abby and I exchanged helpless looks.

"Hand over the bowl," Iggy told Kelly, sensing her violence. "You're going to kill it."

She reluctantly handed him the mix and he stared stirring properly, Abby reading him the recipe.

"Kelly," I asked. "What the heck is going on?"

"I just told Jack that I am sick and tired of him taking out his pathetic affections on other girls out on me."

"Good for you!" I said. Jack glared at me, and cracked an egg into the bowl with force, sending egg shells everywhere.

"Jack," Fang said. "The eggshell is in the –"

"I know! Jeez, you think you're better than everyone else, don't you! Get off my freaking back!"

Fang regarded him calmly, but his eyebrows were raised slightly, which meant he was completely shocked.

"What's his problem?" he whispered to me.

"If you don't know I'm not going to tell you," I whispered back so nobody else except for maybe Iggy could hear. He still looked confused but let it drop.

Kelly and Jack continued to ignore each other. I didn't know quite what to do at lunch, so Fang and I just followed Kelly to her regular table (Fang deemed us worthy enough to be honored with his presence since Barbie was sick)

Jack went off to sit with some guys at another table. He and Kelly both seemed to be past their angry phase already, though, since they were doing the whole shoot-them-looks-and-then-when-they-look-up-at-you-look-away-as-fast-as-you-can-thing.

Kelly seemed to be absorbed in her thinking and things, so I rounded on Fang instead. "So, your girlfriend's sick today. Huh, what did you guys _do _on your date?"

"Very funny. I guess she just caught something." He bit into his 3rd sandwich, looking a bit tired.

"Lookin' hot," said the dufus who had asked me out the other day as he passed our table.

"Get lost!" I yelled, irritated.

Kelly gaped at me. "Do you know who that was?"

I shrugged. "No idea. He's an idiot, though."

"That was Brent – as in, captain of the football team. Rachel was dating him like, a month ago. Rumor was she still liked him – even after she dumped him viciously in front of half the school." She checked to make sure Fang was taking this news okay. He was fine, of course.

"So? All I'm getting from this is that her bad taste in guys doesn't stop with Nick."

"Him asking you out is a big deal, Max. He's the kind of guy that makes girls smile and blush all the time. You just turned down the very definition of popularity."

"Um…okay." Because I just care _so _much about being popular.

Kelly sighed. "Whatever."

I groaned, remembering that I had English with Jack next. "What?" Kelly asked me.

"Why did you have to go and get in a fight? Now I have to endure him all through

English."

"Hey, I'm the one who has to sit next to him in Chemistry," she said. "This sucks," she said. "I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're a completely right idiot. He's been treating you like crap, and besides, he's being completely oblivious, so it's not your fault."

"Yeah, I know, but even if he ever was going to feel _like that_, now I've ruined any chance of that ever happening as we're not even friends anymore."

"Oh please," I snorted. "You guys will be buddy-buddy within a week," I said. "You guys are too infatuated to stay mad for long." I knew I was right.

I remembered the flock splitting up, wondering what would have happened if Angel, Nudge, and I had never gotten caught or sent a message to Fang. Would we have contacted each other eventually, or stayed separated? I doubted I could have gone a whole other year with my half-flock. I would have missed Fang – and all the guys – way too much.

Fang seemed to be thinking along the same lines. When our eyes met, a wordless answer flowed between us, and I knew that whether it was a month or a week, if I hadn't sent that email, the flock would have come back together. I smiled slightly.

Kelly seemed amazed. "You guys can have whole conversations without saying anything, can't you? I feel so left out. Oh, yeah! Um, if it isn't too weird, I was wondering if I could come over to your house after school today. It's Friday, and my parents always have to work late, so I have to go somewhere 'cuz my house is far away."

"Oh, uh, sure," I said. I hoped we didn't have anything we needed to hide or something. "Yeah, my siblings will want to meet you anyway." Just wait until Kelly met Nudge.

"Hey, where are Iggy and Abby?" I asked, noticing their absence.

Fang pointed to a table on the other side of the cafeteria. They were sitting by themselves, and Abby had her usual Iggy-blush on her face. "That's so sweet," Kelly said.

"Iggy's sure happy," I noticed.

Fang nodded. "They've been like that all day. I don't know what's gotten into that guy."

"He's in love," Kelly said.

Nobody said anything, but lunch was over, so Kelly, Fang, and I headed for gym, history, and English, respectively.

----

I sat down next to Jack slowly. He didn't make a move that indicated he was going to try to kill me, so I assumed I could stay.

I copied the daily journal write off the board, keeping my eyes off him the whole time. If he wanted to talk, he –"

"Did she say anything?" he asked me.

"She…"

"Kelly."

"What do you mean 'say anything'?" I asked.

He sighed. "I mean, really, does she make any more sense to you than she does to me?"

"Jack, she makes more sense to _everyone _than she does to you," I said, exasperated.

"She's seen me like a lot of girls, and then all of a sudden she says she's not going to be my friend anymore."

He looked at me. "There was nothing I could do. She was so mad at me, and she's been completely normal all week. I just don't understand." He hand was clenched tightly around his pencil.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She said she wasn't going to sit around and watch me fall for the wrong person. What the heck does that mean?" He looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Well, it means that she doesn't think Rachel is right for you."

"Then who _is_ right for me?" he asked, his eyebrows and jaw set in a bewildered and dejected expression.

I shrugged. "That's not for me to say." Wow. I sounded so…wise. I decided I liked that.

He let out a breath. "I still think she's being stupid." He muttered.

I didn't answer.


	10. Normal Girls

Okay, so, like, it's been a while

**Okay, so, like, it's been a while. And, I know, I've gotten a few people asking me where the heck have I been so I'm going to update. As a warning, it's not very good, and it's kind of Kelly-centric, too, but I'm just hoping you people will figure out that I have not yet abandoned the story and continue reading, etc.**

**Also, did anyone else think that MR4 was like a REALLY BAD fanfiction? Because that's what I got from it. The only other good parts were the fax. My fav. is "Love hurts," Fang said, almost to himself. Or something like that. Anyways, read and review and stuff and I hope you like it and the next chapter will be better and have more plot.**

Kelly was pissed off. Kelly was _seriously _pissed off. Why had this happened to her? _Because you had to go open your big fat mouth, _she told herself. Right.

Jack was really angry at her, and it was all her fault. Oh well. Now she _did _get to see Max's house.

She gathered all her stuff and got up from her stool at the lab table. 6th period had definitely been sufficiently awkward, seeing as she was stuck next to Jack the whole freaking period. Needless to say, he was ignoring her.

"Kelly?" _Him. _

"Yes?"

She should not be talking to him. This was bad. If it wasn't for his damn she-could-never-be-sure-exactly-what-color-they-were eyes, she would never have gotten herself into this situation. Okay, maybe it wasn't all the eyes. Maybe it was the voice, and the personality, and the hair – oh my god, that hair.

_Stop. Stop yourself. _

She looked up to meet him squarely in the eyes. "Yes?" she repeated.

He looked staggered. "Damn," he muttered, looking away. Then, more quietly: "I'm sorry. I – Your shirt is nice, you know."

"Thanks," Her voice was like ice. Oh, jeez. Why was she being so mean? His eyes were getting that look in them that told her she was being too vicious.

"Well, I was thinking…about what you were saying earlier. Well, I mean, you of all people know what an idiot I am, right?" He laughed humorlessly. "So I'm thinking, really thinking, and then I get to thinking about you. And here, all of a sudden, I -"

He stopped, running his hands through his hair. "At first, I was dreading sitting next to you because I knew you'd be all pissy all period – because, well, you were. But then you're there, and I see you, and I –"

"Kelly!" It was Abby, yelling for her. She realized while she was busy talking (kind of) to Jack, the classroom had emptied.

Frankly, Kelly didn't mind having an excuse to get out of there. It had sounded for a second like Jack was going to tell her he liked her or something. But then he'd just make her angry and rip her heart out all over again. Since Max got her, Kelly had forgotten how much she hated high school.

"Coming!" she yelled in relief, leaving Jack standing alone in the classroom, looking stunned.

She smiled at Abby, who, she realized, obviously had Iggy standing next to her. "Thanks."

Iggy looked inquisitive. "You guys haven't made up yet?"

Kelly led the way down the hallway, not looking behind her. "Not until he admits that he's wrong."

"Wrong for what? Liking a pretty blonde girl? He's a teenage boy, so sue him."

"Whatever," Kelly blushed and rolled her eyes, walking faster. "Where are Max and Nick? I need to go over to your house today, you know."

"I know," Jeff replied. "Max war-told me about that. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to call my mom."

--

"Okay," Iggy replied, and waited until Kelly walked off to say, "_This _is going to be a disaster."

"Why?" Abby asked.

"Can't say," he told her, "but trust me. This isn't going to go well."

"Don't you like her?"

"It's not that. It's...never mind."

"I'm not going to try to understand." Abby stated.

"Smart move. I'll see you Monday, then." He smiled and leaned down to kiss her, touching his lips to hers in the perfect position. She didn't even move.

"How do you _do _that?" She was frustrated, but Iggy knew she probably didn't mind in the least.

"Okay!" Kelly called. "I'm ready."

--

They met Max and Nick in front of the school. Watching them, Kelly noticed something was off. Well, no more off than usual, really - Max already seemed to be getting more and more distant from Nick these days. She assumed, then, that Max had found out that Rachel had scheduled another date on Saturday. It was pathetic that every time Rachel did something, the whole school seemed to know in minutes, as if they were going to write it down and do exactly the same thing in hopes that they would become just like her.

Kelly felt slightly awkward as she followed them down the sidewalks, so she spent her time studying Nick. When she had first met him, she had been fairly certain that he was in love with Max - there was a sort of chemistry between them that she and Jack could never achieve. Looking at the way they acted around each other, it was as if they had spent every minute of every day together and been through hard circumstances together. Or something. Of course, that was ridiculous. No matter if they lived together or if they went to school together, or how much they hung out, or how totally close they were, it wasn't like they were never apart. Everyone had to separate sometimes. Kelly was just good at reading people, and it seemed like they relied too much on each other to ever be separated for any amount of time. Of course, she could be wrong. Everyone fought sometimes.

For some reason, she was more worried about them than she should be. Who cared if they were fighting? Who cared if Max seemed less friendly towards Nick? Just, like, if _they're _fighting, what hope is left for the rest of the world?

She sighed. All hope didn't seem to be lost. They were natural together without even noticing it - the way his hand absently flew to her shoulder as she stumbled on a rock, lost in thought, was unacknowledged by either of them.

Kelly watched as Jeff slowed down purposely and fell into step with her. "Hey," he said. "What's up?"

"I'm just...observing."

"Who? Max and Fnick here? They're fun to observe sometimes...or, you know, listen to."

Kelly ignored his comment. "Why do you always call him Fnick?"

Jeff laughed, "Inside joke, really. Kinda stopped being funny a long, long time ago."

"Are they fighting?"

"What defines _fighting?"_

"Um...are they angry at each other?"

"Yup. No explosions yet, though. I'm just waiting."

"Why, though? 'Cause Max is jealous of Rachel?"

"Partly. I'm not exactly a mind reader here. I assume she's jealous and he's just rejected."

"I'm confused," Kelly said.

"I'm not surprised," Jeff admitted. "They're confusing people."

"But they're being so _friendly!"_

"No they're not," he replied. Sensing her confusion, he added, "Huh, how to explain. It's not like you and Jack. It's like...they can't NOT be best friends, ever. Does that make sense? It's just, whenever they fight, they make up, and if in the middle of a fight, Max needs him to help her with something, he does it."

"_Why? _That's weird."

Jeff shrugged. "They're weird. Anyways, they had a little falling out a long time ago. They're still recovering." He rolled his sightless eyes and turned to Kelly. "Don't say anything, or Max will have to start _all _over again. Maybe if she's left alone she'll accept the inevitable by the next time he kisses her and save us all some grief."

They arrived at the house then, and Kelly was nervous as she followed Max and Nick.

The inside of the house wasn't as weird as Kelly expected. She didn't know why, exactly, she expected it to be weird, but the inside was surprisingly boring, as if some middle aged couple had just moved out and left all the furniture. "So they've kissed?" Kelly whispered to Jeff as Max and Nick entered the house ahead of them.

"Yeah. I'm not sure how many times. More than once, definitely." Jeff shrugged. "Gas-um, Gaston, told me about one of them and I heard about another one, but who knows, it's them. there's probably more. They have this urge to have their hands on each other at all times."

"So...how many siblings do you guys have again?"

"It's me, Max, Fnick, and Tiffany-Krystal, Angela and Gaston."

Kelly counted in her head. "How did you all get to be siblings?"

"Well, my dad was in the midst of a divorce with Max's mom, when Max was born, and Dad sort of did it with my mom, and boom, I'm born, right? So then it's me and Max, 'cause Dad got custody of her when he divorced her mom, and then a couple years later came Gaston and then Angela. Fnick and Tiff were adopted by Dad's best friends a while back, but they died in the same crash that killed my mom. So now Dad has six kids on his hands. Fun, huh?"

Kelly nodded weakly. "So Max and Nick, is that, uh..."

"Who knows, really? Neither of them has really ever been the, umm, ethical type."

"Okay."

--

The second Kelly walked through the door I could sense Fang shooting me looks. We were risking a lot, here, and he knew it. I knew it.

We just had to keep our guard up, that was all.

"Whooooooo!" yelled Gazzy, flying over the fence in the backyard, flying being the key word in this sentence.

Fang had obviously heard it milliseconds before I did, because he was already attempting the almost impossible feat of simultaneously swinging Kelly around and shooting death glares in my direction. Okay, maybe this whole "normal" things had a few issues:

1) Normal girls don't let their "brothers" take care of coming up with elaborate lies in order to hide from their friends the fact that they live with 5 other kids, none of whom they are related to, not to mention the fact that the 6 of them are living completely alone and it is up to said "normal" girl to force supposed siblings to do laundry and maybe _once _in a while clean their rooms.

2) Normal girls aren't at this point squishing their wings to their backs so hard that it's painful and hoping that their friend won't find out about these wings and expose them to everyone, causing their ultimate exposure and possibly untimely death.

3) Normal girls have also had friends at their houses at some point in their lives before, and know what to do.

"Are you people home? I've been sitting her all day, listening to Beatles music, and let me tell you -"

Total had enough sense to stop talking when he walked in and saw Kelly looking around for the source of the voice, thank heavens for that.

But the damage had already been done.

"Did that dog just talk?" Kelly was stunned, her mouth hanging open.

"Gaston, you really need to -" I started, but saw from the look on Fang's face that the damage had already been done.

Did I mention normal girls don't have talking dogs?

**Okay, I'm sorry the chapter was kind of crappy, but I'm really just using it to get myself starting again, so review and all that good stuff, thank you VERY much.**

* * *


	11. Trust and Manipulation

Well, I suppose it's been a while, huh

**Well, I suppose it's been a while, huh? I was almost giving up on this story, but I decided since it's summer and I have nothing better to do I'll sit here and type up another chapter. Since It's been so long I figured I should also make the chapter longer, you know, directly related proportions or some crap like that. I'm also sorry to everyone who's going to have to go back to the chapter before this and reread it to remember who the heck these people are and what's going on. Hope this chapter makes up for it. I don't completely despise this one…**

Kelly was still staring disbelievingly at the floor, and I've never been the kind to give up easily. "Gaston, I've told you and I've told you again not to practice those voice tricks on unsuspecting people. Can you please apologize to Kelly?"

Gazzy shot me a skeptical look, but said, "Sorry I scared you. Max is always gettin' mad at me when I do it to people, but it's just so fun," he smiled at her, and I prayed that his blue eyes would win her over.

But she wasn't that easy. Staring down at Total, who was doing his best to look innocent, she said, "This is weird - this is really, really..."

She reached down, picked Total up, and flipped him over, searching for something on his belly.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Batteries," she mumbled.

Fang snorted from behind me, and I shot him a look. "There's no batteries there, Kelly," I said.

"But I know I saw him say...I've never seen a talking dog before."

Was it time to give up the game? Should I open up to Kelly and let her know what freaks we were? Would she run out of her and tell the first person she saw? It was risking too much.

Who did I have to trust anymore, though? Iggy was caught up with his girlfriend every second of every day, and I wasn't turning to Fang for anything. Wouldn't it be a relief to not have to hide anything from my new friend?

I could feel Fang's eyes on the back of my head, baring into me. _Forgive me, _I thought.

"Kelly, first of all, what I'm about to tell you is something I've never told anyone before."

"Uh-huh..."

"Max, what do you think you're doing?"

In truth, I had no idea what I was doing. I was probably putting my whole family in danger, stopping Iggy from seeing his girlfriend again, preventing Nudge from ever getting a boyfriend, putting us out on the streets.

What _the hell _was I doing?

"Max, I need to talk to you," Fang said, his voice sounding strained.

"I don't have time for this," I told him.

"Too. Bad." He was angry. _Really _angry.

He dragged me into the laundry room and shut the door. I knew the sound of the loud washing machine would cover our voices.

"What the hell, Max! You can't just go spilling everything to the first person who walks in the door."

"I trust her, Fang! I don't want to keep secrets anymore."

"You've been keeping secrets your whole life. You can't make this decision for the whole flock. We don't know if we can trust her. We don't know she's not working for Itex, keeping tabs on us, watching everything we do!"

For some reason, the angrier he got, the more I was willing to throw my safety away. It was like, personal safety, or piss Fang off? Lately I had been tending to chose the second one.

It wasn't like he had done anything wrong, except, you know, ditching me for the class slut and leaving me to fend for myself in a huge high school.

But _honestly. _He was talking to _me _about trust, but had I even had a decent conversation with him the past week? How did I know what he was doing when he was with his girlfriend?

"Oh yeah? What about you? You're lecturing to me about keeping us safe, but how do I know what you're telling your little Barbie doll when you're doing whatever you do in a dark movie theater?"

"Oh please, Max," Fang spat at me. "Don't even try to turn this on me and make this about you being jealous. Just go out there and tell Kelly there's been a misunderstanding or something."

I was going to kill him in a minute. First he says I'm jealous and then he wants me to go lying again for him. Since when was he the leader of the flock? Hadn't we been over this already, didn't he know by now that he couldn't pretend he was in charge? I was in charge. He was not. Ugh. This argument was getting so old. To calm myself down, I thought again about what had followed the last time we got this angry. Glancing up at his face, I thought about being without him for so long again and almost shuddered openly. I'd rather have him angry and dating a bimbo than not at all.

"Max?"

I blushed slightly at my train of thought but realized I still didn't have a comeback. "What happened to not fighting?" I said instead.

He looked thrown, but started, "I -"

He was cut off by a large shriek coming from the living room. We shoved past each other to find Kelly staring wide-eyed at a pair of tawny wings.

"Tiffany!" I yelled, scolding, thought truthfully I was glad that the matter was out of my own hands. Now it was all up to Kelly.

"It's okay, Max," Nudge said. "I'm really sorry, but she figured it out by herself."

Kelly glanced around sheepishly. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. I mean, for one, there's six of you, and there's no sign of any adults in the general vicinity. You guys were keeping a big secret, and Max called Nick Fang...well, just basically adding everything up, it all fit together." I got looks from Fang and Iggy for the slip-up Kelly mentioned, but I averted my gaze to the floor.

"You're not telling anyone about this," Fang warned her, his voice icy and his words with an obvious threat behind them. Even Kelly could tell it was not an empty threat.

"This is so cool!" Kelly shrieked, oblivious to the tense atmosphere. "Can you guys really fly?"

I nodded slowly. "But you're not getting a demonstration," I told her.

"And it's totally okay," she said. "Like, nobody at our school even reads Fang's - your - blog. Except for me and Jack, and even Jack is oblivious enough that you're safe from him figuring it out as long as you keep him far enough away from your siblings."

"You realize, Kelly," I said, still tense, "Once you walk out of here, this never happened?"

"Oh my god, of course. You know, I've always kinda wanted to meet you guys."

"And you also realize if you tell anyone, it could get us - me, Nick, all the kids - it could get us killed."

"Max, I swear to god I will never tell another soul as long as I live."

There was kind of a collective sigh throughout the room. Since the matter was somewhat resolved, I let my gaze flicker over to Fang, who was standing in the corner with an obvious scowl on his face. Kelly glanced in his direction too, except she seemed more than a little frightened by his expression. I shot him a "calm down" look, but inside I was probably more nervous that he was. In all my anger at him, I had forgotten how much I hated having to trust people outside my flock.

But what's done was done.

Kelly spent the next hour socializing with the kids, who happened to love her, and obsessing over the wings, but things got back to normal after that and we started work on our homework. Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy had gone to their respective rooms to do the same. I could feel Fang watching Kelly and I the whole time, as if waiting for something dangerous to happen.

Meanwhile, I was focusing on geometry. "So...if these angles here are congruent, then the lines are parallel?" I asked Kelly. "How does that help me at all?"

"Well," Kelly said, pointing to the diagram, "Since these lines are parallel, it proves angels 3 and 4 are congruent too, so then the other set of lines are parallel."

"I thought we were supposed to be proving the sides were congruent."

"Well, see," she explained patiently, "if both sets of the sides are parallel, then it's a parallelogram."

"No freaking duh."

"Well, the opposite sides of a parallelogram are congruent."

"Right. Okay."

What had started as two friends working on homework was now a tutoring session. And here I thought I had a genetically enhanced brain. Seems they had skipped geometry knowledge when mixing together my genes. Oh, and the gene for having boobs - all those girls with their C-cups must have it. Although, I have to say, flying with anything more than my flat chest would most likely be a pain in the butt, so I was thankful. But still, I was a girl. Helloo, scientists? Didn't they think I'd be going to high school? Apparently not.

--

My homework got done though, thank god, and Kelly eventually went home. Once she was out of the house it felt like a big weight had lifted off my shoulders and I sighed.

The feeling of relief lasted until I realized Fang was still standing in the same room.

"Max?" he asked.

_Breathe, Max. You're not _really _angry at Fang. You're angry at the geometry homework. Why should you be mad at him? It's not like you're jealous._

"What?" I applauded myself for the lack of a harsh tone._  
_  
"Next time you're going to yell at me, leave my girlfriend out of it."

Okay. _Now _I was mad. "Are you trying to be funny? Or is that some sick, twisted way of telling me that you and Rachel are now boyfriend and girlfriend?"

His smirk told me the answer was both.

Fang had a girlfriend. A _girlfriend. _An honest to goodness, genuine, bona fide, completely fake girlfriend. Was he just trying to make me angry? Or did he just get amusement out of throwing himself at girls? I was completely humiliated when tears sprang to my eyes, so I figured I should get out of there before I did something completely ridiculous, like cry in front of Fang.

I didn't care. I couldn't care.

The only thing I did care about was that Fang had noticed my tears and stepped towards me, reaching out. "What?" I spat. "You think I care? No, go ahead, have fun, you can hold the glue while she sticks on her fake nails."

In his stunned silence, Fang sneezed, something I rarely ever saw from him. I was tempted to ask if his new girlfriend had gotten him sick but refrained. I had made a resolution to let him live his life, and I was going to start sticking to it. Even if it meant not commenting on his poor choice of girlfriend any more than I already had. I did notice his cheeks were kind of flushed, though.

I didn't care. It was his own fault. Besides, even if I did care, he'd get over it anyway, with our healing. No. I didn't care. Didn't care about him, his girlfriend, or his health. Not if he was going to be like this. This way we could go back to normal.

After I made my decision, I ran up to my room and locked the door, not coming out until the next morning.

0-0-0-0

Nudge sighed into her pillow. All the drama downstairs and she never got to tell Max that Jean Luc had asked her out!

Yup, he did it right after computers class. See, after the first day they'd been flirting a lot. It was mostly during computers, 'cuz they always ended up next to each other. Nudge liked to tease him for typing so slowly and he always made fun of her because she talked fast. But it was okay when he did it, because he wasn't annoyed by her, and when he made fun of her, it was always in a nice way.

So she'd gotten a huge crush on him and he asked her out. He was so cute! She always stared at his eyebrows when he spoke, too. One time he caught her and they both ended up laughing insanely.

She just felt like she could talk to him, though. One day in class they were supposed to be watching a movie and the pair ended up in the back of the classroom laughing with each other instead. She _knew _she was in 7th grade and wasn't supposed to be dating, but she didn't see why not. It would be mean for someone to tell her she couldn't have a boyfriend just because she was younger. She'd been through a lot more than most of the people in her class at any rate.

As Nudge was remembering and squealing with happiness, Iggy walked into the room. "Hey Iggy," Nudge said. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I have a boyfriend!"

She then proceeded to tell him the whole story.

Iggy was smiling too. "Hey Nudge, guess what?"

"What?"

"I think I'm in love with Abby."

"_Really? _That's so sweet, Iggy!" Suddenly her expression turned somber. "There are two of us, though, that are not so happy. You know what I mean?"

"One," Iggy replied. "You mean Max."

"You think Fang's happy?"

"Come on, Nudge, it's Rachel."

"I know, but just because she's pretty doesn't mean that he has to be happy with her. Did you ever think that Fang could be happy with anyone but Max? I didn't. You know why I didn't? Because he can't be. So he isn't. I mean, don't you think Max is just as pretty as Rachel is? So if he liked Max first, and Max is nicer and prettier, then he can't be happy with Rachel."

"That's bad logic."

"Well," Nudge fumed, "they're a bad couple."

"Let them work it out on their own," Iggy said. "Max and Fang, I mean. You've seen them before. They're stubborn. So don't interfere."

"I never said I was going to. But I'm not happy about it."

Iggy laughed as he walked out of the room.

0-0-0-0

For me, the weekend went by too quickly. The flock and I got to relax on the weekends, something we couldn't do when we were locked up in a hellhole for 6 hours a day.

Fang and I even got back to normal - well, not normal exactly, but normal for us. On Saturday night we sat scheming about Kelly and Jack - well, I was the one doing most of the scheming. Fang thought I should just leave them alone.

I was ecstatic, anyways, because Barbie had had to cancel their date because she was still sick. I think even Iggy, who spent most of the time on the phone with his girlfriend, noticed my happy attitude, something that had been rare ever since we arrived in the small town.

Basically, I was _so _not in the mood for school on Monday.

So we've seen happy Max. Max over the weekend, Max doing nothing, flying around with Angel and Gazzy. Okay, kids, now let's take this adolescent bird girl and throw her back into high school, where our motto is "Life sucks. Deal with it."

Of course, this very Monday is bound to be the best day of this bird girl's life.

Let's start with math class, shall we?

So I'm digging through my bag and of course I don't have my math homework, which was due today. The teacher, who has always been the no-mercy type, forces me to the front of the class and makes me explain exactly why my homework wasn't turned in. Then she gives me detention for Thursday and lectures me in front of everyone before sending me back to my seat.

But wait! There's more.

Before I go to chemistry with Fang, I must be subjected to a dose of complete and total idiot in the form of Brent McElroy, who cornered me in the hallway, attempting to convince me to date him, _again. _I, of course, have to politely explain that I would rather smash my head into a concrete wall than ever go anywhere with him before I can go to class.

Speaking of class, foods was also a big basket of fun. Kelly and Jack _still _weren't talking to each other, so I could watch either Iggy and Abby acting lovey-dovey, Rachel draping herself across Fang, who had had a funny look on his face all day, or Kelly and Jack silently fuming at each other.

After considering my options, I ended up next to Iggy and Abby, who weren't that bad by themselves and didn't make me feel like a horrible third wheel when I talked to them. That is, until Iggy started teaching her the "basics" of cooking. Who knew you needed to kiss so much to make a decent pie?

So, by this point in the day we can fairly assume this bird girl is not enjoying herself.

This is why she was very not looking forward to being cornered by Jack at lunch.

"Max? Max!" I felt an arm on my shoulder and turned around, facing Jack, whose expression I couldn't decipher. "I wanted to talk to you about Kelly."

I allowed him to drag me into an empty classroom. "What?" I asked, trying not to let my bad mood enter my voice. On top of everything, it had just started raining. Perfect.

"Well, I was thinking..."

"That you're in love with Kelly. Took you long enough."

He stared at me. "How did you know that?"

Oops. "I thought it was obvious."

"Well, you know. Anyways, I have to talk to her, convince her."

"So...you do that."

"Max, I need your help."

"What do you need _my _help for?"

"Max, you know she'll never talk to me if I just walk up to her! I was thinking you could invite her somewhere, just the two of you, and maybe then I could show up, and you can convince her to talk to me and let me apologize and crap. She's always listened to you, you know. She trusts you."

"So because she trusts me, you want me to lie to her and force her to talk to you?"

"Well, not -"

"Jack, go up to her yourself. If she wants to talk to you, she will, and if she doesn't, she won't."

Jack dropped his gaze to the floor, his hair falling in front of his eyes. "I just don't want her to hate me anymore," he said.

"Then apologize to her!" This was pointless and stupid, and I was in a bad mood. "What do you need me for?"

Jack stepped closer to me. "Max, what can I do to get you to..." He trailed off.

The next thing I knew, Jack had pressed his body against mine, smashing our lips together. My reaction was slow due to pure shock. What? A second ago he had been trying to force me to help him with Kelly, and now he was kissing me? What was going on? I tried to shove him off me, but his arms were weirdly wrapped around me and we only ended up falling on the floor. Rolling off of him and standing up, I yelled, "What _the hell _was that, Jack?" I wiped my mouth angrily.

He got up and looked at me sheepishly. "Well, I was talking to Rachel..."

Crap. That was never good. "What. Happened." I asked through clenched teeth.

"Well I was telling her about what happened with Kelly, you know, and I was telling her how I was planning to apologize, but I didn't know if Kelly was going to talk to me. And then Rachel tells me that if you helped me then she would talk to me. It was a good idea, you know, having Kelly's friends on my side. But then Rachel said you probably wouldn't agree to help me."

"What? Why would Rachel say that?"

"Well...she said it was because you liked me."

"_What?_"

"Yeah, and then she said that I could probably get you to help me if I kissed you, and then you'd do whatever I wanted."

"So let's get this straight: I do not like you, I will never like you."

"Yeah, I got that."

"Now...what else did she say?"

--

"Rachel, I want to talk to you," Fang said at lunchtime.

This wasn't going to work out. Rachel was pretty, but she could never replace Max. And that's what he had been doing. Replacing Max. He should have realized that it was impossible the minute he agreed to date Rachel, but Max had been so pissed. And that was the problem, of course - one look at Max's face when he told her he was Rachel's boyfriend was enough to make him reconsider the whole thing. If Rachel hated him, it didn't matter, but Fang practically couldn't live knowing Max wanted him dead. Max was the only person he would jump off of any cliff for, without wings. Max was the only person he could really talk to or trust, and to let a high school come between something that had lived for fourteen years was ridiculous. He wouldn't let it happen.

He didn't know what had made him come to this realization - it's not as if he'd been having the best of days. He was pretty sure he had a fever, seeing as the air conditioned classrooms felt like they were a hundred degrees and he could barely keep his eyes open. His head was pounding, and he kept coughing, which was a pain in the butt when you have to do it so low that nobody can hear you. He didn't want Max getting all motherly on him. On top of that, his history teacher had called on him for at least 3 answers today when he hadn't been paying attention, so of course he was ridiculed in front of the class like Max during 1st period.

Maybe it was feeling like crap that led him to realize that he didn't want to be with anybody but Max. Turning to Rachel, he tried again.

"Rachel, I don't think this -" He said, but she wasn't paying attention. She just stood there, looking at the ground, biting her full lips. "Nick, there's something I need to tell you."

"What?" He was tense, wanting to get this over with.

"Well, you know Max...well, I saw her with Jack earlier."

Fang was silent.

"So I asked Jack and well...Jack told me they've started dating. I wanted to tell you, really, but I knew how she always liked you and I was worried you might be upset she didn't tell you about it."

"Max and Jack are dating?"

"And they have been. They're arranging meetings at lunchtimes now, you know, to..."

This was ridiculous. There was no way Rachel could be telling the truth. "Where are they now?" he asked.

"Oh, I suppose they're in one of their empty classrooms now, like always...Nick, where are you going?"

"Nick" walked out of the classroom calmly, followed closely by Rachel, who was trilling in his ear, "Oh, I shouldn't have told you! I just didn't want to like, upset you, and I thought you might know already...are you angry with me?"

He didn't answer, so she started again. "Oh, if you want to find them, they'll probably be down this way..." she led him down a hallway and up to the doorway of one of the classrooms. Inside, sure enough, were Max and Jack. Jack had some emotion in his eyes and he looked at the floor. Max said something, and he moved closer to her. Then they were kissing. His arms were around her, and together they fell to the floor...

Fang looked away. He couldn't believe what he had just seen.

This changed everything. 


	12. Let's Crack Her

Kelly couldn't believe what she was hearing

Kelly couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're lying," she said.

"I know you'd like to think that," Rachel said, "but unfortunately, it's true." To Kelly's ears her voice sounded sympathetic, but she knew it was all fake.

"I'll just ask Max, and she'll prove you wrong."

"If you're still refusing to believe me, then go ask Nick. He saw them at it with his own two eyes." She smiled.

"No...no." Kelly shook her head defiantly. It couldn't be true. It couldn't.

Rachel sighed and took out her cell phone. "I didn't want to have to show this to you," she said, "but since you're being difficult, well, it's necessary." She browsed through her videos, stopping at a blurry one taken through a window. A window of a classroom? Kelly peeked at the picture...and there they were. Rachel clicked play with a carefully polished fingernail and Kelly watched Jack's arms go around Max, watched them kind of awkwardly fall to the floor. Max was facing away from the camera - the video had been taken extremely quickly, but easily recognized Jack's hair and body posture. She's always imagined this kind of kiss - she could see his arms around her - but when she had imagined it he had been kissing her, not Max.

Her voice was shaky as she said. "I want to talk to Nick."

Rachel sighed. "He'll just tell you the same thing."

And he did. When they came up to him after school he told Kelly exactly what Rachel had told her. "We saw them," he said, his expression mystifyingly blank. Kelly had always thought Fang had a thing for Max, but he didn't seem to care at all about this latest development.

Kelly couldn't believe Max had done this to her. Max _knew _she liked Jack - she had spoke of not much else since Max got here. She always thought Max had been incredibly cool about it, thoughtful, making Kelly feel special. It's not as if Max had been close to a lot of other girls in her life.

Kelly had thought Max was her friend. Max had shared her most trusted secret with her, and then turned her back on Kelly and basically betrayed her.

She really wanted to believe that Rachel was lying, but there was hard evidence. Of course, this was a lot of Rachel's fault - she felt the need to take a stinking video of it, for gods sake, but Kelly guessed it was better to know the truth, and know what liars Max and Jack were.

Kelly turned her back on Rachel and walked quickly, tearfully away. This was going to be a _long _week.

0-0-0-0

As soon as Kelly was out of sight, Fang cornered Rachel. "How'd you take a video of them?"

Rachel smirked. "You were a little absorbed with watching."

Fang sighed imperceptibly. She was right. Max and Jack, Max and Jack…it was just so _wrong. _Jack didn't have anything Fang didn't, but she would kiss _him? _What kind of screwed up world was this?

"Let's go, Rachel," he said.

0-0-0-0

"You really think she'll talk to me?" Jack asked.

I rolled my eyes. "God, Jack, what are you, a fifth grader?"

He'd barely said a word to me all day, probably embarrassed about his charade yesterday. His cheeks were almost flushed as he nodded. "Okay," he said, finally confident.

Just then Kelly walked by the area we were standing in the quad.

I tried to dissolve into the background as Jack said, "Hey, Kel, wait a minute."

But something was wrong. They second Kelly saw Jack, she fixed him with a glare and stalked off in the opposite direction, her movements stiff.

"What was that?" I asked, confused.

"I guess she doesn't want to talk to me," Jack said quietly.

I didn't understand this. Kelly and I had talked about this - she'd been waiting for Jack to apologize to her, tell her how much he cared about her. What was her problem now?

The sad thing was, I actually cared. I actually cared when I saw the hatred in Kelly's eyes, the deep hurt in Jack's. After he walked quickly away, I wondered at myself how I could have made actual close friends. I mean, sure, they were both morons who knew even less than me - so we're talking negative numbers here - about the opposite sex, but, shockingly enough, they were my friends - I liked them.

But the most, ridiculous, appalling, mind-blowing, Fang wearing _pink _thing about this was that I was actually helping them get together.

Me. Maximum Ride. Freaks out when her best friend kisses her, Eraser punching, sky soaring Maximum Ride.

And I thought things never changed in small towns like these.

I waited by my locker where Fang and Iggy usually met me, still exceedingly proud of myself. I had wanted to act normal for a while, despite my opposition to the idea - and I had actually _done _it. Even the freakishly crowded hallways and annoying teachers weren't as claustrophobia-worthy anymore. I had limited myself to maybe one panic attack a day, and I wasn't nearly as dependent on Fang; though I did miss him a bit, I figured once we got out of this stupid place everything would be fine again.

"Hey, Max," it was Abby.

"Hey Abby," I said. "You guys seen Nick?"

Did I forget to mention Iggy's arm was around her? Well, it should be implied. _Always._

"Nah, haven't seen him," he said.

"Well, he's usually here...around ten minutes ago. I'm worried."

"Of course you are, Max. But Nick can take care of himself." Then he heard Fang's footsteps approaching. "Ah, speak of the devil and the devil shall appear. Hey, Nick."

"Hey." his voice was short and clipped.

I hadn't seen Fang all day, except in chemistry, and we'd barely had time to speak while doing the experiment. He looked flushed, his eyes watery.

"Well, let's get going," Iggy said. "I guess I'll talk to you later, Abby?"

"Yeah," she muttered, "Call me."

They kissed and headed in opposite directions, Abby down the hallway, Iggy following Fang and I outside.

I let Iggy get ahead of Fang and I for a while, then turned on Fang. "What's up with you? You look sick."

He was silent, his expression hard.

"Fang? What's up?"

"What do you care?" he snapped at me.

Okay, now I was confused. "Whatever you're mad about, don't take it out on me," I said, defensive.

He ignored me, looking the other way. This was _so _not cool.

I made a few conversation attempts on the walk home, but each time Fang would reply in short, icy non-sentences, so eventually I gave in. I didn't _understand _him, though. If he was going to be angry, he could at least tell me why.

Shivering in the frigid air - it had, mercifully, stopped raining for our walk home - I silently fumed behind Fang. How dare he act like this? I hadn't said a thing about him and Rachel since Friday, and he knew it.

I watched his back, scowling, and decided once we were in the house and warmer, I would talk to him - or talk at him, the way this was going. But how _dare _he? One day he's speaking to me, the next he isn't, who does he think I am? Who does he think _he _is?

When we got into the house, Fang immediately walked up into his room.

I followed him.

He seemed to be expecting me - he left the door to his bedroom open. When I came in, he was standing with his arms crossed.

Before he could say anything, I yelled, "What the hell is your problem?"

"At least I _told_ you." His words were cold, but his face was calm.

"Told me _what?"_

"You know, when I got a girlfriend."

"Is there a point to this or are you just listening to yourself talk?"

He didn't seem to hear me. "I thought when you decided to go get yourself a boyfriend, you'd at least, I don't know, let me _know _or something."

"Okay, fine," I said, half confused and half hurt by his tone of voice, "If I get a boyfriend, I'll let you know, then."

"Oh please, Max. The game's up. You had to know I'd find out sometime."

Now I was even more confused. "I have no idea what you're talking about," I said.

"I know you and Jack are dating, Max." He rolled his eyes.

I almost started laughing. Me _and Jack_? He had to be kidding me. "You're joking, right?" I asked, restraining myself from cracking up.

"I saw you." His words were simple, and yet they conveyed so much.

I tried to think of what he would've seen, and then remembered when Jack had kissed me to try to get me to help him with Kelly. He would've seen that, and thought - crap.

"Fang, you've got this all wrong. I know what you saw, and -"

"So you're saying I saw it wrong?"

Now I was frustrated. "Who - oh."

Barbie.

Crap.

She told Jack to kiss me then led Fang there to watch. She fed him some lie about how we were dating, and he trusted her. He believed that I would go behind his - and Kelly's - back and start dating Jack.

That explained why Kelly was so angry today, why she wouldn't talk to either me or Jack. Rachel really _did _have the power to turn people against their friends. And here I had thought Kelly and Fang would have been the ones to have listened to me.

Well, this was just perfect.

"Fang, I know what you're talking about - I'm not dating Jack. I don't care what Barbie told you -"

"So now she's lying and I'm hallucinating?"

"I'm trying to tell you what happened! It was all R -"

"I'm sick of this, Max. I just thought you wouldn't try to lie to me is all." He was turning away, but I wasn't giving up. He was going to listen to me, and he was going to listen to me _now_.

"So Rachel tells you something and you believe her, but you won't listen to me? Oh my freaking God, Fang! You've known me your whole life, and you believe _her _instead?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore," Fang said, a little louder than his voice had been a second ago.

"How about your best friend?" I asked. "How about the person who's been saving your butt since you were little?" I was angry as heck. He could date whoever he wanted to, but now her lies and his gullibility had gone too far.

"I _saw _you!" Now he was on the verge of yelling.

"You didn't see _anything, _Fang." He started to argue, but I cut him off. "Ugh. That is such a Fang thing to do. Find a slut and forget the flock."

"I didn't -" he started.

"You know what?" I yelled to the ceiling, blinking angrily. I would _not_ let Fang see me cry. He couldn't know he'd upset me, or everything was lost. I've been there, done the whole crying thing. Not pretty. "Believe whoever the hell you want! Go live a happy life with your girlfriend and leave me the hell alone!" My voice cracked on alone, to my great embarrassment.

Fang noticed, like he did back in the house. But, like then, he realized he was mad at me and the look of concern flew out of his eyes. I wanted it to come back, but all I saw was anger.

And suddenly I couldn't stand being in the same room anymore. I couldn't stand to see the person I cared about most in the world, no competition, being totally _not_ on my side.

I stormed out of the room totally non-dramatically, and slammed the door shut behind me, breathing hard for some odd reason. I leaned against the closed door.

I hated, hated, _hated_ being mad at Fang. But what I hated more was that he was not trusting me.

Inside the room I heard Fang sigh, the sound barely audible. It was followed by a cough that instantly made me worry about him. I shook it off anyways. I hated Fang right now - he could have freaking pneumonia and I wouldn't care. He'd be fine by tomorrow anyhow - not that I was still thinking about it.

I sighed exactly like Fang had and went back to my own room.

Lying down on my bed, I pondered the issue. I couldn't believe that Rachel and all her stupid friends were getting away with this. What was pissing me off more than anything was that she could actually pull this crap off.

I put a CD Kelly had given to me into the stereo and turned up the volume. I lay back on my huge pillows, "The Great Escape" by Boys Like Girls pounding into my ears. Funny. Most of the songs were about boys liking girls.

Kelly. She was mad at me too. Maybe I could explain tomorrow, get her to listen. She'd be more reasonable than Fang. She could help me get Fang to believe me.

But how? I'd just have to get Barbie to admit it to him is all. I'd just have to crack through her plastic exterior.

That was it. I would crack her. Crack her like…an eggshell, a firework, a big, stupid, pointy stick, a duck with a speech impediment. She was going down. Now the question was how. With Kelly's help, I'm sure I could think of something.

Right, right, right. Kelly hated me. Maybe I could fix that right now. I picked up the phone laying beside my bead, turned down the stereo (which was now blasting the drumbeats of "On Top of the World"), and dialed Kelly's number.

Of, course, I dialed her house phone, where she didn't have caller ID, but she would recognize my voice soon enough. "Hello?" She picked up on the second ring.

"Kelly, I have to talk to you."

"Is it you, Max? How _could _you, how _COULD _you?"

"Kiss Jack?"

"I thought I trusted you, I thought you were my friend, Max, but I guess -"

"Kelly, listen. Jack kissed _me. _And only because he wanted _you."_

"I don't believe you. If he wanted me, why would he go around kissing other people?"

"It's, uh, kind of a long story. But think about this - who told you about Jack and me?"

"...Rachel."

"Exactly. It's Barbie, Kelly. Jack was just going to go to me to try to get me to help him get _you, _but Rachel convinced him that I was in love with him, so he had to kiss me to get what he wanted. And I swear to whoever the heck is up there that I was trying to get him the heck off me."

"So he was kissing you...to get to me?"

"You've gotta believe me here, 'cuz Fang sure doesn't."

"She told Fang, too?"

"She's just doing this to get at me, turn everyone against me."

"You really tried to throw him off? I saw the video, and..."

"And you didn't see me fall to the floor trying to get away from him? You didn't see me get up and start screaming at him?"

"And he _really _likes me?"

I sighed. This was getting old. "Yes. He _really _likes you."

"Okay," she said. "Now, the question is, how do we get back at the bitch?"

I smiled. Now _that _was more like it.

And so the cracking began.

**Okay, that's it. 'Twas just a short-ish filler chapter. the next one will be full and you'll all get your fill of Rachel miserableness. Yay.**


	13. The Truth

Woohoo

**Woohoo! Super long chapter for everybody. This is probably going to be the longest chapter of the story. It's also either the 2nd or 3rd to last. In case you forgot where we left off, Fang was pissed at Max because Rachel told him she was dating Jack, Max goes to Kelly, explains, and they decide it's payback time.**

And I DO know how pretty much every single one of you reviewers have been begging for some revenge against Barbie since like, the 3rd chapter, maybe. So I hope this satisfies you all. But it gets PRETTY dramtic near the end, so be prepared.  
  
For all my time coming up with elaborate schemes to break out of top-secret, highly secure facilities, people would think bringing down one measly - albeit slightly testosterone-inducing and manipulative - teenage girl would be a piece of cake. Easy. A cinch. Like taking candy from a baby.

Well, they can think again. Kelly and I had been on the phone for hours and somehow we were still thinking of ways to get her to admit what she'd done.

"Oh!" Kelly suddenly said after another idea failed horribly.

"Please tell me you just thought of something and you're not trying to be funny," I told her, wary.

"Her _sister."_

"She has a sister?"

"Yeah. I totally spaced. Melissa's in 8th grade."

"How does this help us?" I asked, annoyed.

"Melissa totally _hates _Rachel. In fact, they're pretty much the same, except Melissa's younger."

"So you're saying we make her sister do the dirty work for us?"

"Well, partly. Let me call her."

"Okay." I heard the click of the phone on the other end of the line and then hung up myself. I felt tense, coiled up.

Through all the four hours that I had been on the phone, I'd only stopped the conversation once to eat dinner with the flock. It had been a quiet dinner, because neither Fang and I wanted to be the first to say anything. We listened mostly the whole time to Nudge, who had apparently started dating her friend from school. The only words spoken were "cool", or "that's awesome, Nudge", until she eventually got the idea and stopped talking. Iggy was off in his own mind about something or other, presumably his girlfriend, and Gazzy was too busy eating.

_Max? _Angel asked, in my mind. _What's going on?  
_  
I sighed. No matter how much you tried to keep things from the innocent girl, Angel always knew when something was going on. Not that it was particularly hard to pick up on.

_Nothing, Angel. Fang's just mad at me. I'll talk to him later._

Or he'd be talking to me, eating his words.

_Max, did you hurt him?_

I didn't touch him. Although, now that I thought about it, knocking some sense into that boy might do me some good.

_Then why does his head hurt so much? I think he's going to fall over in his seat._

I tried to ignore the instinct that told me to get him in bed, make him relax, take his temperature. _He's fine._

Angel didn't try to say anything else, maybe picking up on my reluctance to continue the conversation. And to tell the truth, having conversations with her in my head kind of freaked me out. She was only 7, for freak's sake.

My phone rang again and I snatched it up, trying to forget about dinner. "Kelly?"

"This is Melissa."

"And Kelly," I heard Kelly's voice too.

"What do you people want from me?" This Melissa girl sounded bored.

"You know your sister, Rachel?" Kelly asked.

"No, I don't know her. Never heard of her, actually. I have a sister?"

I ignored her, though silently applauding the sarcasm. "We want you to help us take her down."

I was afraid that might have been a little too blunt. What if she actually liked her sister? What if she ran into the other room and told Barbie about this right now?

"Excellent," she said. Her voice was basically a higher pitched version of Barbie's, which freaked me out. "I have everything set up here. I've been waiting for an opportunity is all."

"Not so bad that she misses school, though," Kelly warned her.

"Don't worry," I could almost hear Melissa's smirk. "If she misses another day of school she has to repeat tenth grade. I heard her whining about it earlier."

"What are you going to do?" My curiosity got the best of me.

"Let's just say she's not going to be as pretty when I'm done with her." Then she hung up.

"Wow," Kelly said to me.

"Wow is right," I told her.

Then we continued our scheming. This wasn't nearly over yet.

0-0-0-0

The next day at school, we had everything all planned out. Okay, sort of. And part of it I wasn't exactly sure I was going to live through.

Basically, as I walked into the math classroom in the morning I was half excited and half ready to puke - before I saw Rachel, that is.

I mean, she looked funny. Funny, as in, really funny. Because her hair was completely butchered. Which wouldn't exactly be something I would mind - heck, I'm the one chopping off my own hair - but from the look on her face it mattered a hell of a lot to her. It was kind of like Gazzy's face after Angel got kidnapped. Yeah, not pretty.

And when I say butchered, I mean butchered completely. Like a blindfolded man with twitches in his hand had attempted to cut it. I wondered why she didn't have a hat but then looked over and saw some boys tossing a pink beanie around in the corner.

There were a group of people around her, questioning her about the new most fashionable look, but then Mrs. Harris started the class and shut everyone up.

I tried my hardest not to smile then, or glance at Kelly. Melissa had done her job well.

Of course, my attempts to be discreet failed horribly because Kelly couldn't help herself. She leaned across her desk over to me and said, "Guess what? There's no make-up either. Whadd'ya wanna bet her sister trashed it?"

Super secret-like, I glanced over at her and she really _did _look different without all the mascara. Almost, well...almost human. And she looked pissed.

And, to top it all off, while the class was quiet and copying notes off an overhead slide I heard her quiet, high pitched voice whispering.

"Hey, Nick," she said. Thank god for mutant hearing.

"What?" He muttered back quietly. He hadn't spoken to _me _all morning.

"I can't go on Saturday."

After a short pause, he asked, "Why not?"

"My sister rode up the cell phone bill and blamed it on me. I'm grounded for a month."

"And..." he seemed hesitant. "And...your hair, too? Was that her?"

She was suddenly angry and, if my hearing was right, on the verge of tears. "Do you think I would do this to myself? She even stole all my make up and wouldn't let me in the bathroom this morning."

Fang didn't say anything else, because the teacher caught on. "Ms. Rose, do you have something to tell to the class?"

"Yeah, Rachel, tell us why your hair's all funny!" a boy in the front yelled.

"Yeah, nice look you got going, good luck getting a date with that _stuff _on your head," another added.

"That's quite enough," said Mrs. Harris. Then, even though Rachel was already silent and staring at her desk, she added, "Now if you don't mind, Ms. Rose, I would like silence while we all take notes."

0-0-0-0

Kelly and I ran out of class as quickly as we could, Kelly just eager for more revenge, and me more to avoid Fang than anything else. But I let her lead me through the hallway.

We stopped at a corner and Kelly edged around it, peeking down the corridor. I think she seemed to enjoy the whole "stealth" thing, but in fact there were actually a few too many people in the hallway, so I felt kind of like a salmon swimming upstream against a current.

What the heck. It was fun.

I peeked around the corner with her and watched the spot where we knew Rachel would soon open her locker. Kelly was freaking out: "What if she doesn't open it, Max? We'd be so screwed..." and we were getting odd stares from people passing by: "What are those two girls doing pressed up against the wall?"

But then we saw Rachel walking up, stopping at her locker, twisting the combination. "She's gonna open it, Max! She's going to do it!"

"Shh...You're going to -"

But I never got to finish because Barbie's scream filled the hallway.

"What - the -hell!" Her voice was high-pitched and shrieky now, and I could have sworn Kelly giggled.

She shook her head and kind of jumped around in the hallway. "There are ants on me!" she squealed.

A senior rolled his eyes as he passed. "Girls," he commented in a low tone. A girl snickered.

"Ew! They're all OVER my stuff! And there's _sticky _stuff in here! This is so _gross!_"

Kelly and I exchanged glances and ran down the hallway before we started laughing hysterically. Somewhere in there I think we exchanged a high five. I quietly wondered how she was going to get books for class with the ants on them. Maybe she'd have to actually, like, touch them. The _horror._

0-0-0-0

Jack pulled off his shirt and tossed it carelessly into his gym locker.

On the other side of the locker room, Jack heard someone say, "Keep your eyes down, fag!"

He rolled his eyes as someone replied, "Oh, why don't you? You know you like it!"

"Yeah, you wish!"

Jack yanked his P.E. shirt over his head and glanced over at Nick, whose locker was next to his. Nick was dressed and sitting on the bench, waiting to be let back out into the gym. He'd been out of it all day, but Jack guessed it wasn't his business...

"Hey Nick, what's up?"

Nick glanced up at him. "What do you mean?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. You look weird."

"Weird like how?"

"Weird like pissed."

"And I don't normally look pissed...?" There was a hard edge to his words.

"I mean pissed, like, depressed. Brooding."

"Oh. Well, yeah." For some reason, Nick was glaring at _him. _Jeez, first Kelly, now Nick. This school was really a piss-fest.

"Rachel?"

Nick should his head quickly, then winced. "Max," he said through his teeth.

"Oh," Jack said. "Well, if it makes you feel better, Kelly's not talking to me either."

Nick gave him a confused look, as if to ask how that was relevant.

"She was mad at me yesterday, no reason, except 'I never want to talk to you _ever again!' _I tried calling her last night," he winced.

"I wonder why," Nick muttered darkly, sarcastically.

"You know why she's mad?"

The gym teacher yelled for everyone to get out of the locker rooms. Nick rolled his eyes and turned away from Jack. "Why don't you just go ask Max? I'm sure your girlfriend would be very understanding."

By the time Jack could even think of a reply, or a denial, Nick was gone.

0-0-0-0

Fang rested his head on his lab table in the almost empty chemistry classroom. He didn't want to close his eyes because he was afraid he might fall asleep. It wasn't as if it exactly mattered, though, - he was probably on the verge of passing out already. He knew he should have stayed home today, but he didn't want to give Max the satisfaction. Besides, she was mad at him. He didn't want her to have to worry about him, too.

_Maybe this is what Max felt like during her brain attacks, _he thought distractedly. The whole "battering ram inside the skull thing". Honestly, what was it, 100 degrees in the classroom? More?

What made it worse was that he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night. He kept thinking about Max and Jack in that classroom, kissing, making him angry, and then picturing the tears in Max's eyes as she ran out of his room, which filled him with a feeling that could quite possibly be worse than the anger. It was like an endless, torturing circle.

And what if it had all been for nothing? What if Max really _wasn't _dating Jack?

Another side of him argued. If they really weren't dating, why were they making out in empty classrooms? Was Max willing to kiss the first guy who asked?

But she wouldn't kiss you, would she? A small voice in the back of his head answered his circling thoughts. No, she wouldn't kiss him. But she would kiss Jack. She would _date _Jack. There was no end to this.

And besides, what could Rachel have done? _Forced _Jack to kiss Max? _Made _Max kiss him back?

He'd almsot forgotten - but not really - that he was going to have to sit next to her all period, so when Max walked in he jerked his head off the table quickly.

She placed her books on the table without looking at him.

_Maybe I should talk to her, _Fang thought. _Maybe I should get the full story..._

No. _No_. He was not giving in.

They were watching a movie today. Fang couldn't concentrate, though, even if he wasn't feeling like he'd just been picked up and thrown full force into a concrete wall. No, he couldn't concentrate, not with Max sitting next to him.

It was torture, that period. A dull voice droned on about something or other, threatening to force Fang into the sleep he'd lost the night before, and he could hear Max's every breath, feel it every time she moved, remind himself of everything Jack had and he didn't have. Yep. Torture.

He got out of there as fast as his tired feet would take him at the end of class.

0-0-0-0

Kelly and I spent most of foods talking in low voices that I sure hope didn't come off to the rest of the class like the evil voices they were.

It was really funny, cuz it seemed like the rest of the school had been waiting for an opportunity to get at Barbie too. Except for her posse, it didn't seem like she had many friends. Only people who pretended to like her because she was pretty and powerful or people who hated her because she was pretty and powerful.

And so her foods homework was gone (an essay on the experience of bakking pumpkin bread) when she got into class. It seemed that other people were already taking our job out of our hands. Kelly seemed happy at this thought - for some reason it didn't make me smile.

I think it was probably the look on her face all period - instead of the evil, furious look Kelly and I hoped for, she looked depressed, defeated. I mean, we all have bad days. She didn't even know hers was going to get a lot worse. I almost pitied her for a second.

Then I remembered how I'd felt sitting alone in the changing room, watching her and Fang leave on a date, listening to Fang yell at me because of her lies.

Oh, no. She was still getting it. Getting it bad.

And _now _it was time for the second part of the plan. The part I really did not want to do. The part I would've begged Kelly to let me get out of if it wasn't so necessary. The part that on a normal day I would rather fly out into a crowd of sadistic scientists and surrender myself than take part in.

But, of course, it was all part of the plan. So, after class was over, Kelly and I cornered Brent AKA Super "Thinks he's all macho" Snotty Football Man.

It actually wasn't very difficult. Sometimes, when he sees me, he attempts to so that disturbing thing where he talks to me. Normally I ignore it but today in the hallway, when he said "Hey, you're looking good today," I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and led him disgustedly through the hallway and out into open air. Kelly was following behind me.

"Come to take me up on my offer?" he asked.

I didn't understand how some people thought this boy was good looking. Okay, well, he had the blond hair, and the blue eyes, and the muscles, but honestly, was that all it took for teen girls to forget the idiocy of a person? Honestly.

I was momentarily speechless, forgetting that I was supposed to pretend I liked him.

Kelly filled in for me. "Well, it's kind of complicated. You...dated...Rachel right?"

His face suddenly changed from joking to serious. "Yeah. 'Till she dumped me in front of the whole school. And started dating that loser Nick."

"So you still like her?"

"What does it matter?" he countered.

"Well, Brent," I said, recovering my voice, "We think Rachel still likes you, too."

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the ground. Wasn't he being obnoxious and flirty a second ago?

"So," Kelly continued for me, "We have a plan."

"Why should I help?" He seemed determined to be defiant.

"Do you want to get back with Rachel?"

He nodded slightly.

"Then just followed our lead," she said, "and Rachel will be begging for you back by the end of today."

Five minutes later, we walked to lunch with him. "Do I _really _have to do this?" I whispered to Kelly as we let him get behind us.

"Yes, you have to," she whispered back fiercely. "This is important, Max! Focus! We're going into the cafeteria now, quick, get into position!"

I waited slightly for Brent, who I noticed already had his lunch. Then we walked into the cafeteria together. I tried to hide my disgust as I clung to his arm and smiled up at him. He smiled back at me, flashing large white teeth. We were both acting: I knew I could lie easily, but I had no idea how he would pull this off. I could only hope.

Going against my better nature, I continued to cling to him until he, Kelly and I sat at an empty table. I sat next to Brent.

The conversation was lame and stinted - I actually had no idea what any of us said the whole time. Mostly Brent and I just plastered huge, fake smiles on our faces and looked at each other. Halfway through he seemed to get into it and put his arm around me. I tried not to shudder - that wouldn't look good to Rachel, sitting across the cafeteria. Besides, it might hurt his feelings or something.

Soon we realized it was working. In the middle of a conversation about homework that had too much smiling in it to be taken seriously, I saw Rachel stand up, furious, on the other side of the cafeteria. Yes.

We _knew _this was going to get to her. It was kind of like giving her a taste of her own medicine, what with her and Fang and their whole love-love-kiss-kiss thing. Ugh.

Soon Brent noticed her coming over too, and he, Kelly and I burst out laughing at nothing.

Barbie stopped behind me and Brent with her hands on her hips. With the ugly hair - which she had obviously tried to make a bit cleaner since fourth period, unsuccessfully - and the make-up less eyes, she looked like a mess. If she had been wearing mascara, I bet it would have been running down her face.

"_What _do you think you're doing?" she snarled at me.

I smiled. "What does it look like? Eating."

She made an agitated noise in the back of her throat. "Brent, what are you doing with _her?"_

He kept a calm face. "I'm eating lunch with my girlfriend."

"Your - your _WHAT?"_

"You heard me," he said.

"I can't _believe _you! She shrieked. "After all this, after all I've been through today, I can't believe you're with this _bitch!"_

"You dumped _me," _he reminded her.

Sensing defeat, she turned back to me. "And _you. _This was all you, wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked innocently.

She shrieked. Now the whole cafeteria was watching. "I hate you," she told me in a furious voice.

"You're about to hate me more," I said. Then I took my full carton of chocolate milk and tipped it upside down over her head.

I think she was pretty shocked at that one. She stood there for a minute, her head dripping with chocolate milk. The horrible thing was, even with the hair and her face covered in chocolate, she was still _pretty. _But the furious light had gone out of her eyes, and now I could see tears in her eyes.

"Are you happy now, Max? Because you've taken everything. Even my friends are laughing at me now."

"I wonder what it feels like to have everyone turned against you," Kelly said, jumping into the conversation. "I wonder how awful that must be."

Rachel started crying harder, seeming to get it. "I'm sorry, okay?" she yelled. "Now just leave me alone!"  
_  
_And with that she ran out of the room. The whole cafeteria that had been watching the scene a second ago turned back to their conversations, but Kelly, Brent and I were silent.

I exchanged glances with Kelly, and we both realized that we might have gone too far.

Ugh. I knew this would happen. I knew she'd make me pity her. But I couldn't help it. I knew exactly how she felt, with none of her friends paying attention to her, with people laughing behind her back. At least maybe now she wouldn't try it on me again. Or maybe I had just continued an unnecessary war.

Either way, Kelly and I both stood up at the same time. We were going after her.

While we jumped up, I noticed Fang walking out of the cafeteria. He had entered just in time to see Barbie's dramatic exit and had followed her out the way she had left.

Great. Now _he _was getting involved, going to comfort his girlfriend. Whatever.

Kelly and I tried following him out, but he was gone when we got into the hallway.

It was then that I remembered something - or someone - that I'd forgotten about all day. "Kelly," I said. "I'll get Rachel and Nick. You go find Jack, make things right."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Jack!"

"Exactly."

"Ugh, I need to go apologize. I'll talk to you after school, 'kay?"

"Okay." Then we both ran off in separate directions.

Once Kelly was gone, I realized that I didn't know where I was going. Hm, if I were Rachel, where would be the place that I thought nobody would find me?

I thought about it for a minute, and then it hit me. The library.

When I got there, I knew I had come to the right place. The second I opened the door, I could hear Barbie's quiet sobs coming from the corner. The librarian gave me a strange look as I walked in - maybe it was the expression on my face, or maybe she just didn't know why a bunch of upset teenage girls kept walking in.

I made my way to the corner where I saw Fang and Barbie sitting at a table that was mostly hidden by bookshelves. They both looked up when I came near.

"You," Barbie sobbed. "Why are _you _here?"

Like _I _knew.

"I just - I -"

"Did you come so you could watch me cry, get your stupid satisfaction? I know it was all you, everything. I bet you even talked to my stupid sister. And the locker, and the homework. And now you have Brent." She sniffled.

Fang was suddenly angry. "Max? You seriously did all of that?" The first words he'd spoken to me since last night.

I didn't say anything.

"I can't believe you, Max! What did she ever do to you? You think just because -"

Ugh. "I just -" I started again.

"Max, this is low," Fang was so furious that his cheeks looked red. Or maybe they had been like that already. "I don't understand why you would do this."

Now I was really angry. "I did it because I -"

He cut me off again, refusing to let me talk. "Why are you being so selfish, Max? Are you trying to make a point? Are you trying to bring her down to make yourself feel better?"

Even Barbie tried to stop him this time. "Nick..." she said, in a desperate attempt to quiet him. I think even she knew that she had deserved what I had done. Even if it took a week to get that chocolate milk out of her jagged hair.

"I can't believe you're defending her, Rachel. You haven't done anything to her. This is just...evil. Max, just because you're jealous, you think you can be evil, scheming, manipulative? You think nobody will notice you're turning into a monster? Maybe school _was _a bad idea."

That stung. He was calling me evil? A monster? Why couldn't we have just stayed on the run? I'd rather have to eat rats for the rest of my life than hear those words ever coming out of Fang's mouth. But it was too late.

"Stop, okay!" I bet the librarian was really angry at this point. I didn't care. I could barely see. Fang was starting to look kind of blurry through my watery eyes. I barely cried, ever, because I had to be tough for the flock. But when they take me to school I fall apart? I felt like I hadn't stopped crying since I'd gotten here. "Just stop, Nick! I get it! I'm going to leave! I guess you're going to have to go without your best friend if you still want to believe your Rachel is Ms. Innocent." He glanced at her, seeming slightly unsure.

Why was I acting this way, so dramatic and annoying? Because I needed Fang. Because he still wasn't believing me. Because he trusted his girlfriend and wouldn't let me talk. Because he was being obnoxious and single-minded and thought I was lying because I was jealous.

Because, well, I loved him.

This was a great time to realize it, really, as I stormed out of the library, ready to break down in tears. Yeah, really convenient.

Only one thought was going through my head right about then. __

I hate high school.

0-0-0-0

Fang watched Max go silently.

"Nick," Rachel suddenly pleaded through her tears. "Nick, listen to me, please."

"What?"

"I want to tell you...about Brent."

"Brent?" Fang asked.

Rachel turned to him as if seeing him for the first time. "I'm sorry, Nick," she wailed. "I - I think I'm in love with him. Brent, I mean. Not that it matters now. With Max and all."

"Max?"

"They _say _they're dating. Maybe it was just to get at me, I don't know. It did."

How many guys could Max date at one time?

"I thought she was dating Jack," Fang said. He didn't know which he wanted more - Max to really be dating him, so he could justify his anger, or Max to not be dating him, so...well...so Max could not be dating him.

At his words, though, Rachel broke out into a new wave of tears.

She put her head in her hands, mumbling, "I'm so sorry, Nick."

"What?"

"Can you blame me, though? She has _everything - _Max, I mean. She's beautiful, and she doesn't even have to try. I try _so hard!" _she wailed. "And she's althetic, and smart, and everyone loves her."

_And she's brave, and caring, and strong, and determined, _Fang added in his mind.

"And, on top of that," Rachel kept going. "She had _you! _She had this hot, strong guy who was totally and completely in love with her. Can you really _blame me_?"

"Blame you for what?" He was suspicious now, barely noticing Rachel's anguish.

"I _had _to try to take it from her. She couldn't beat me at everything without even trying! How is that _fair! _How is that fair at _all?"_ Her voice was rising. It was a good thing there weren't that many people in here.

"So...so I started dating you, you know. But...it wasn't enough."

"What did you do to her?" Fang asked, angry all over again. Was it possible that his headache could get worse? Because it seemed like it was.

"A few things...but I swear, Nick, I just...I just..."

"You were just jealous," he whispered.

She nodded her head into her chest.

"Did you take her clothes?" his voice was barely audible.

She nodded again, tears steaming down to her chin.

"Is she dating Jack?"

He knew before she did it that she was going to shake her head.

"How..."

"I told Jack if he wanted Max's help with Kelly, he should kiss her," she had the voice of any person who was admitting to something they wish they hadn't done. It cracked in a few places.

"And then you led me there when you knew he was going to do it."

"Max wasn't really kissing him back." If he wasn't a mutant, he probably couldn't have understood what she was saying, the way she choked on her words like that. "She was trying to push him off, and they fell...when she stood up, she was yelling at him."

"And then you told Kelly, and you told me, and..."

"And all her friends had turned against her."

Fang stood up. He was in deep trouble. Max had needed him to believe her, and he had turned his back on her because she wouldn't date him. Because she wasn't willing to have the relationship he'd wanted, he had ruined everything.

Rachel looked up at him. "Are you going to go find Max?" she whispered.

He coughed slightly, fighting off dizziness, and nodded, not believing himself. Everything Max and said, and everything he had said...ugh. He had no idea how he was going to make this right.

"I'm so sorry, Nick," she said again.

"Go find Brent," was all he said before walking out of the library, leaving Rachel alone.

0-0-0-0

Kelly found Jack sitting on the steps leading into the quad, his legs spread apart and his forearms resting on his thighs. His head hung down and he had an obviously dejected look on his face.

Kelly came up and sat down next to him. "Hey," she said.

He glanced over at her, and she noticed that he looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Could it be because of all the harsh things she'd said on the phone?

"Why are you here?" For a second there, it sounded like he'd been crying. Which was insane, of course. The last time she'd seen him cry was when he'd broken an arm and a leg skateboarding off his roof in the 7th grade. That was, what, a little over 3 years ago? Jack didn't cry.

"I...well, I realized what I heard about you and Max wasn't true...and you and Rachel...isn't true anymore. Is it?" she added timidly.

He almost laughed. "That depends. Are you speaking to me again?"

She thought it over.

"I think...whether I'm speaking to you depends on _your _answer."

He gave her a small, knowing smile, like, _I thought so. _"No," he said. "I don't...no. It's not true, anymore."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just...I needed you to see me...differently."

"Well. Well, I do. Definitely." He took her hand, and Kelly felt her heart give a ridiculous kind of reaction.

"So...I guess...what...Do we...?"

He leaned closer to her in a way that easily made her forget whatever sort of stupid statement she had been trying to make. All she could see were his eyes.

"Just shut up, Kelly," he said. Then he kissed her.

There was no way to describe this kind of kiss, the kind of kiss Kelly had been waiting for for years. There was no way to describe how happy she was. There were no words.

When they broke apart, Jack had an incredulous look on his face.

"Wow, I really _am _stupid," he said, touching Kelly's cheek.

"Yep," she agreed.

"I can't believe you were right in front of my face for all these years, and I never knew...I never knew _this _could happen. I...we..."

"Just shut up, Jack," she said.

He was all too willing to stop the talking.

**Thought I'd end that on a happy note. Next chapter coming soon!**


	14. The Resolution but Not the End

I avoided Fang for the rest of the day

I avoided Fang for the rest of the day. In gym, Rachel was gone, which I suppose was a good thing considering I had no idea what the heck I would say to her if she was. _Sorry for totally destroying your life earlier today. I promise I won't do it again. Hey, you totally deserved it, and it was funny, and you're still bwitch enough not to tell Fang about all the crap you did, but, hey, I really _am _sorry. _

Except I really wasn't.

And Fang, too. Maybe someday he'd find out how he totally stabbed me in the back, and he'd want to apologize. Good luck with that. At this point, I was pretty sure it would take a miracle for me to even speak to him, let alone forgive him.

I mean, first he'd ditched me and the flock to hang out with his new girlfriend 24/7, then he'd defended said girlfriend when his _best friend - _who, need I remind you, has pretty much taken care of him, fed him, clothed him, been there for him, gotten him and the flock out of difficult situations for _years - _told him about all the stupid things his girlfriend had done. Then he insults said best friend, calls her evil, a monster, lying, jealous _and _listens to the girlfriend.

What kind of universe _is_ this?

Basically my point was if he ever _did _realize the error of his ways, he was sure going to have some fun talking to himself.

Ugh. I needed to stop thinking about Fang. If it was possible, the thoughts were killing my day - somehow it had just barely survived the gruesome scene earlier.

Finally, though, the bell rang to signal the end of the stupid day. I had decided I would get out of there as fast as possible, so I practically sprinted through the hallway, trying to get home before either Fang or Iggy or Abby saw me.

But I'd forgotten about Kelly.

"Max!" she called.

Dangit. And I had been almost out, too.

"Hey, Max!" I turned around. I was about to ask where Jack was, but then I realized he was standing next to her, holding her hand. Figured.

"So I guess things went well?" I asked.

She blushed. Well, at least somebody was happy today.

"How about you? Did you talk to Rachel?"

Not really. To be fair, I hadn't had much of a chance to talk. "Uh, not really."

"So you didn't find her? That sucks."

"Uh, yeah." _Get out of here, Max. Get home. Stay far away from Fang._

"What about Nick? Did you talk to him yet? Did he realize what a witch she is?"

"Uh, I talked to him a little." A very, very little. Mostly he'd been talking at me - yelling, really. "I gotta go. I'll see you later."

She seemed confused, but I think she didn't press it because she could see I really wanted to leave. She and Jack finally seemed happy, anyways. I didn't want to ruin it. I just wanted to go home and wallow in self pity for a little bit, see how long I could go without being in the same room as Fang. It should be fun.

Without waiting for anyone else to come and stop me, I ran all the way home.

In a very melodramatic way, the dark sky kind of represented my sour mood. Like, if I'm mad, the whole world should be mad.

The running helped with the cold, though. Even though I was sopping wet when I came in through the front door, I was still warm, either from anger or from the exercise. Personally, I'd prefer the anger, because it's just cooler, but either way works.

I called, but nobody was home, so I ran up the stairs and into my room. I found a pile of CDs Kelly had lent me and I had taken just to be nice, never really intending to listen to them. Now, though, I had a purpose. Playing a song on each, I figured out which was the loudest, and put the Fall Out Boy CD in in the end.

Surprisingly enough, I had actually heard this song before. And I rarely touched the ipod - that was all Fang and Nudge's thing.

After a while I realized the CD sucked - the band kind of sucked too - but it was the perfect volume for my nice session of self-pity. I could barely think. It was excellent.

Because, to tell the truth - and I would _never _say this out loud - I felt kind of abandoned. Angel and Nudge and Gazzy all had been shipped off to other schools, Iggy had gotten his girlfriend, and Fang was...well, he was having fun off with Barbie somewhere. It was like we weren't the same flock we were when we had come to school. And that was exactly what I had been afraid of.

My new friends, too, Kelly and Jack, were going to be absorbed in each other for the next while, too, so it was like I didn't have anyone to turn to anymore. Suddenly I wanted to be back at Mom and Ella's house - to have people who loved me no matter what, no matter what kind of stupid revenge schemes I'd pulled. I was homesick right then so much it hurt.

I wouldn't call them, though. I would not turn into one of those girls who couldn't handle something and turned to their mommy's. No - I was better than that. I wouldn't let Fang - everything - get to me.

Exactly. That was it. I wouldn't let anyone know Fang had gotten to me. He could ignore me all he wanted, but I didn't care. Why would I care what he did with his own life?

Wasn't that what I had said only last week? That I would let Fang live his life, and I would live mine? Wouldn't it have been a whole lot freaking happier if I had listened to myself and not gotten involved?

It was impossible, though. I was pretty sure whatever happened - no matter how much I tried to keep myself out of things, Barbie would have dragged me in, coming up with some lie or another. Like the Jack thing - what choice did I have there? Did I _ask _Jack to kiss me? Did I _ask _Fang to start yelling at me? No. I didn't. I could have not tried to explain to Fang, but that was like giving in to Barbie from the beginning. At least, in the end, I hadn't let her win. That thought slightly cheered me up.

So, I'd won the battle, and it left me sitting alone in my room, playing loud music and wishing Fang weren't such an idiot.

Well, that worked out great.

0-0-0-0

"I'm worried about Max," Abby said as she and Iggy sat under the overhang, watching the dark sky after school.

"Yeah," Iggy agreed. "Me, too."

In fact, he _was _worried. Not only had he heard her and Fang screaming at each other the other night, he'd been able to tell how upset she was all morning from the cracked sound of her voice. And now she'd taken off after school early without talking to them.

"Did you hear the scene today in the cafeteria?"

"No." Duh, they'd been eating outside. "What happened?"

"I heard Rachel started screaming at Max in front of everyone. She said something about hating her and accused Max of something. Laura told me Max was sitting with Brent."

Now _that _was odd. Max dating anyone else but Fang. The concept was just funny.

"Then what happened?"

"Rachel ran off. But Shelley - she was working on a project in the library - she saw Max and Nick and Rachel all yelling at each other in there. Max came in for some reason and apparently Nick was calling her names and defending Rachel. It was all a big scene."

"Crap. Do you know how it ended?"

"She didn't tell me much. Only Max ran out yelling and crying, and then Rachel was crying, and then Nick left."

"Well, this sucks," Iggy muttered.

"What?" asked Abby. Iggy always forgot she didn't have superhuman hearing.

"Well, Max is going to be uber-pissed at Nick, and Nick's going to go around pretending not to care but talking even less than than normal. So either it's going to be completely quiet or they're going to start screaming at each other so everyone within a 15-mile radius can hear."

"Poor Max. And Nick," she added after some consideration.

"See, the thing is," Iggy said. "Max is jealous. Nick is kind of going _way _over the top in pissing her off because she won't be with him and won't let anyone else be with him either."

"Does she want to?"

"Be with him? I think so. I don't see why he really minds - he's so obviously in love with her. Him and Rachel. Ha," he laughed.

"Well, you seem to be quite the expert on those two," said Abby. Iggy could feel her getting closer.

Now he could smell the scent of her shampoo, easily making him disregard Max and 'Nick.' "Why don't we forget about those two?" he asked.

"I was just wondering how we could help."

He was impatient. "I think they have to work it out by themselves," he said, echoing his conversation with Nudge.

"Do what you can, though, okay? Promise, Jeff."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make sure they don't kill each other. That won't be such a pretty sight when the cops show up."

"Okay." He figured she was taking what she could get, and he leaned in and kissed her. "Mm, doesn't it seem like it's going to rain?" she asked.

Actually, it did. He hoped it would rain; rain was always calming for him. "Yeah, I hope so. I love the smell." It seemed cleaner already, somehow, fresher and nicer. He always knew hours before it was going to rain by just breathing in the air.

"I feel so relaxed," she said, leaning into his chest. He puts his arms around her easily, naturally. It was amazing how much things had changed in the last few weeks.

"You cold?" he asked her.

"No," she said. "Ugh, I don't want to go home right now."

Hm...at least Max wouldn't care today whether he got home an hour or two late.

0-0-0-0 

When Angel and Gazzy got home, I did my best to help them with their homework. Angel seemed concerned about me - I wondered what she was reading in my mind - but stopped questioning me after I gave her a look. Nudge was in a really good mood when she got home, as usual. I think she was still on her boyfriend buzz - she'd been wanting it for a really long time.

I sighed, and watched Angel easily attack the advanced homework her teacher had given her, watched Nudge distractedly stretch out her wings in the spacious living room, watched Gazzy do a flip in the air over the couch. It was obvious they weren't normal kids, but they had so much fun pretending to be just like everyone else.

_They're just kids, _I reminded myself. They didn't have as many memories to get rid of, as many obstacles to overcome. They just wanted to have fun and enjoy themselves, do things they had missed out on the rest of their lives. Was that so wrong?

"Fang," Angel suddenly warned. I was up in my room before the door opened, listening.

"Fang?" Angel asked, calling him this time.

He didn't say anything. "Well, I don't think she wants to talk to you. I think she said even if you're sorry. _How _sorry? Fine, I'll go away. Stop thinking if you don't want me to listen, then."

It was cute how Angel was quick to defend me, but I didn't want her to have to get involved in Fang and my problems. I suddenly felt guilty.

And there was another thing. Fang was sorry? Does that mean he'd found out about Barbie and was trying to come begging back now?

Ugh. _I do not care, I do not care, I do not care._

"Fang?" Angel again. "I think Max might like it better if you went and got some cold medicine. I think Jeb left some."

"I'm fine, Angel."

"You don't _look _fine," she said, but conversation stopped after that.

Trying to distract myself, I started on my pile of homework, but it was easy and I was done in like, 10 minutes. So I used the next best method of distraction and decided to sleep. I laid back on my bed, wondering if I'd gotten pathetic. It wasn't long before I got to sleep.

When I woke up, it was dark. I wasn't sure if it was because of the weather or because it was late, so I went to check my alarm clock. When I turned, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Jeez, Fang!" I yelled, almost forgetting in my fright that I wanted to kill him. Dangit, that ruined my count of how long I could go without speaking to him.

He chuckled, looking like a dark ghost in the doorway. "Yo," he said.

I didn't respond, staring at the wall, thinking of some...descriptive phrases I could use if he decided to keep talking.

"So...I was talking to Rachel," he said, his voice quiet. "She told me about Jack...and the clothes."

"Huh," I said.

He seemed to get that I wasn't in the mood. "Look...I should have listened to you."

"Yep."

"I didn't know she was so...How could I know she did that to you?"

"I don't know. Oh wait, that's right - I _told _you. About everything. It's interesting what you said to that, isn't it?"

He sighed, frustrated. "Listen, I'm sorry."

That was almost a surprise. I mean, it wasn't very often that Fang said sorry to me. I was tempted to scream "_It's the apocalypse!"_ but I thought that might be pushing it.

Instead, I said, "Maybe you should have thought of that before screaming at me and defending your whore." I knew Fang would be able to see past the calm of my voice, and I mentally cursed him for it.

"I didn't mean it, Max. I was just...angry."

"No freaking duh, Fang. You were _angry _because you didn't even listen to my side of the story! There is a basic problem here, and you're not getting it. There was me, and there was Barbie," in my explanation I accidentally used my favorite nickname. "We both told you different stories, and you chose to believe her. That's it. The end. No more. Finite."

"No, I was angry because...I just never understood why you freaking cared so much," he said, loudly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean one minute you act like you like me, the next you don't, then you hate me for talking to someone else! Just pick a freaking side already!"

I blushed. "I don't -"

"No," he said. "You don't want to talk about it. You never want to talk about it."

Wait. He was _not _turning this on me. "This isn't about you and me! This is about you turning your back on m - the flock!"

"Just because I believed one lie told to me by -" he was starting to get furious now. _Ha._

"If you had left it at that, maybe, _maybe _I'd forgive you. But, let's see, what did you call me today? Evil, manipulative? Everything I'm not and your girlfriend is."

"You _know _she's not my girlfriend anymore!" he yelled.

"Oh, did she dump you for Brent? I'd say I'm sorry, but hey -"

"Cut the crap, Max. You know I'd never be with somebody who did what she did to you."

"Oh, I get it. Because _she _told you, you automatically believe her! When _she _tells you what happens, you come running!"

He made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, then suddenly closed his eyes and put a hand against the wall as if to support himself. "Max," he said, opening his eyes again, "I was stupid, and we both know it. Remember when I said that we should try not to fight? I don't want to have to separate again -"

"Okay," I said. "Let's make a deal then."

"What kind of deal?"

"We don't separate, and everyone stays happy, as long as you stay the hell _away _from me and don't talk to me unless Angel dies or we're attacked by Erasers. You can get back with Rachel because you trust her _so freaking much. Okay?"_

Fang rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen, Max."

Oh, I _would _be a drama queen, and he better deal with it.

"And," he said, quieter this time, "I told you already. I can't be with Rachel anymore, and you know it."

"Ugh, are you going to pretend you care about what she did to me? You didn't care when she did it! You were fine to hate me, let Kelly hate me..."

"Did you ever think about _why _I was angry, Max? Do you think it was because I didn't care?"

This conversation was not going to way I wanted it to.

"Bye," I said, and, taking him by surprise, pushed past him out of the room.

I ran downstairs and out the back door, glancing at the surprised looks on the faces of Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge. I would bet my sanity that they'd heard the whole conversation. Getting a running start in the large backyard, I pushed out my wings and rose into the sky. A part of me hoped the neighbors wouldn't see, but I was beyond caring right now.

I used my super speed to fly far, far away from the house. I was past mad – I was so angry that I could barely think. Jealousy, I thought, would have been a part of it, but I didn't want to admit it. Mostly I just wanted to get away.

I just wanted to be mad at Fang, but he made it so freaking difficult. He had to turn the conversation around one way or the other, make it look like I was the one who had betrayed _him. _I hated him.

I felt the cold air, the dark clouds, and detected the scent of oncoming rain. I needed to get out of the air soon, but I didn't feel far enough away.

Out in the sky, with the wind in my feathers, I started to calm down a bit. I tried to forget about Fang for a minute, flying with no real direction. It was only when I could start to feel light raindrops on my skin that I started to panic.

Not to imply that I was incapable of flying in the rain – because I _so _could. See, our feathers are oily, which makes them water repellent. But when it was seriously pouring, one must discover that flying with soggy clothes and soggy hair is not an enjoyable experience. Add on top of that freezing your butt off and basically it's just a whole ice cream sundae of _so not_ fun.

You wonder how I know this? Of course, Jeb told us all back when we were ten to avoid flying in the rain at all costs; it lowered your range of view and made fighting much more difficult. So, of course, the next time there was a storm, Fang and I snuck out of the house and went flying around.

Obviously, we came back soaking and got in some serious trouble, but it was nice to know that save for the chance of getting struck by lightning, it was pretty safe up in the sky during a storm.

Somehow I didn't remember it being this windy back then. The rain was coming down harder now and the wind threatened to blow me off my nonexistent course. Now that I mentioned it, it hadn't been this cold either. I was shivering through my soggy windbreaker.

Then I spotted a water tower not too far away. It looked like there would be a place to land. And it seemed like there was a dry area that was calling to me. _Not like it would do much for me, _I thought sourly, taking into account the fact that I probably couldn't get wetter than I already was.

And then my feet were skidding on a slippery wet surface, and I thought for a minute I was going to do a face plant before I pulled myself up.

Where was I again? It was weird how there could have been no rain a minute ago and yet now I couldn't even see. Right, the water tower. I could see the green paint in front of my face and turned around to grope for the railing. At least here I was away from prying, human eyes. And away from Fang.

I just didn't understand him, sometimes, I thought as I stared off into the blurry outlines of the land around me. I didn't understand how we could be best friends our whole lives and suddenly not know each other. I didn't understand how he could seem so smart and brave one day and the next be oblivious to his surroundings.

Of course, I cared about Fang more than I cared about anything. If Fang said something, it was automatically assumed true because he would never lead me wrong and if I couldn't trust him, I couldn't trust anyone. He was practically my reason for living. He dies, I die; it's as simple as that.

But sometimes he just made me so angry. Like now, for example.

And honestly, what was _with_ this weather? Sunny vale. As in, it should be sunny. Not freezing cold and so windy that I was about to be knocked off my feet in a few seconds. Not so rainy that it was impossible to see for more than a few feet.

I squinted off into the distance, testing how far off I could see into the darkness. It was difficult to see past all the slowly moving black clouds in the sky.

Except, for some reason there was one black cloud that was moving faster than the others.

One very small, Fang shaped cloud.

I gasped. He couldn't have. How was he even flying without getting blown off by the wind? Even I couldn't have gotten here if I hadn't for the most part beaten the rain.

And then somehow, impossibly, he saw me. I could tell because he changed direction somewhat - the wind was blowing too hard for it to be direct - and headed pretty much straight for me.

Why would he do this? Did he still want to apologize that badly? Maybe he really did care - more than I thought he did.

When he landed, skidding like I had, I eyed him incredulously. He wasn't even wearing a jacket.

"Max," he said.

"What?"

Then he turned to me, and for the first time that day I really got a good look at him. I noticed the bags under his eyes, his pale face, the way he shook slightly when he stood up, the way he turned around to hide his cough. And I was scared.

And in that moment, all my anger flew out the window. Because, looking like this, without even stopping for a freaking jacket, he'd followed me to continue whatever idiotic explanation he'd started to make.

And then...all my anger came back. "What, are you stupid?" I yelled. I could barely hear myself over the sound of the rain hitting the top of the water tower.

"I know I'm stupid, Max. But no way in hell am I letting you hate me."

"No, I mean, are you insane? You look like crap!"

"I'm fine," he said, rolling his eyes and slightly backing away from me towards the railings. From this distance, I almost didn't notice the way he was shivering. "What do you care, anyways?"

I sighed as I realized the inevitable. "No matter how much I hate you, you're still my best friend." Even if it sucked.

"Hey, Max?"

I looked at him. "Well," he continued. "I just wanted to say...I'll believe everything you tell me. And, you know, the only reason that I even dated Rachel was because I thought you didn't care."

Didn't care? Ha.

"I mean, you basically told me you didn't want anything to do with me."

"When did I say that?"

"You said it with actions."

Did he mean the running away from him part? Why could I never tell him what I was actually thinking? That the reason I'd run away was because I was worried I liked it a little too much. What if it came down to telling him or losing him?

"Fang, I-"

"I don't care, Max." I think he rolled his eyes, but he was backing away, towards the ladder. Was he planning on going down it? "I'm not saying you have to care. Not now, anyways. You can think about it, if you want."

I walked towards him again. 

"God, Max, I was pissed. You didn't want me? Fine, someone else would. I didn't want to think about you anymore, let whatever I had for you screw it up."

This was not like Fang. Was he sick and delusional, is that why he was talking like this?

"But it's not like I could help it, right? Just because I l - well, I liked you, and no matter what, no matter how much you treated me like crap, I couldn't let it go."

"Fang, stop talking like this," I told him. I was getting freaked out. "Here, take my jacket." At least the inside was still warm.

"That's just like you," he said. "I'm telling you what I haven't told you for years and you're concerned because I'm not wearing a _jacket_."

He was standing by the ladder that would lead down to the ground now, looking like one of those suicidal kids who would jump backwards to end their lives. 

Was he doing this on purpose? Making me pity him so I couldn't hate him anymore? I couldn't even remember why I had been mad in the first place. I bet he knew what he was doing - only he could know me well enough to manipulate me like that.

Had I mentioned he looked like crap?

"Fang? Fang? You're swaying on your feet."

"I'm fine," he muttered. "Will you forgive me, then, now that I'm done humiliating myself?"

"You are _not fine, _Fang."

"Damnit, Max," he said. I think it was supposed to come off as frustrated, but his voice was low and shaky and instead of continuing his point, he trailed off. Then, suddenly, his eyes fluttered closed and his body slumped.

"Fang? _Fang?" _

And then he fell, right off the edge of the watertower.

And somehow, despite the whole week of wishing he would jump off a cliff and die, despite our argument maybe half an hour ago, despite the fact that he had believe Barbie's lies, I jumped off after him without a second thought.

Of course, unlike him, when I jumped off, I yanked my wings out so I didn't plunge to my death - like he was about to if I didn't stop him. I pulled them back in for a dive as I sped after him.

Stupid rain, stupid darkness. How was I supposed to see anything, let alone dark Fang? At least I had superspeed on my side. I sped down, down, hoping I wouldn't be too late.

And suddenly, there he was, just a few feet away from me. I reached out to grab him -

Of course, being me, I hadn't thought about exactly what would happen when I caught up to him. So when I instinctively grabbed his hand I was just about dragged to the ground with him.

Except right before I felt the impact of my head into the ground, in a moment of happiness that I'd been waiting for all week, my wings snapped out and a strong gust of air pushed us violently upwards. I would take it - even if it hurt, it was better than dirt in my face.

Then I found out, if I flapped really hard I could kind of awkwardly hold Fang in my arms and fly in the general direction of the house at the same time. Of course, it was kind of like trying to swim against the waves of the ocean during the prelude to a tsunami, but I was making progress. My main worry was whether Fang would wake up, and what the heck was wrong with him. Why did he always seem to be the member of the flock who would get hurt, end up in the hospital?

Somehow, miraculously, I found the lights that lit up the school behind our house. Safety, so close. And it was about time, too, because my arms were about to fall off.

I landed - if that's what you want to call it - in the backyard. Jeez, Fang was so freaking heavy. I hadn't realized it would be harder to carry him on the ground than in the air. I settled for supporting his upper half and kind of dragging his feet. Why hadn't he woken up by now? This wasn't normal for us - our imune systems were better than humans'. Had he been hurt and not told any of us?

Angel saw me coming and opened the back door for me before I ask. Iggy rushed over and asked if he could help, so I had him carry Fang's legs as we took him upstairs to his bed. He couldn't see either me or Fang, so he couldn't see my soaking clothes or hair, my dirty jeans (from landing so messily), or the look on my face. But he knew something was seriously wrong.

I pulled a dry long sleeve shirt and jeans out of his dresser and threw them to Iggy. "Dress him in these, will you?"

"What happened?" Iggy asked quietly.

"I don't know," I said, which was partly true. "He just passed out when we were in the rain. We were in the middle of a conversation, -"

"Conversation, ha," Iggy muttered. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't know why he's not waking up," I said. I was getting images of the last time I saw Fang unconscious, lying on the beach, my hand pressing cloth on his wounds to stop the flow of blood.

Seeming to follow my train of thought, Iggy said, "He doesn't seem like he's hurt physically, but he's got a hell of a fever and his breathing's pretty shallow."

"I'll call my mom," I said. She'd know what was going on. If anyone could help Fang, it was her.

As I dialed her number, I realized that my life could never be normal. No, I couldn't just ignore Fang - I had to jump of watertowers in the rain to save him on the same day I was ready to kill him. What was wrong with me?

A few minutes later, she was on her way. It would take a few hours even though she was catching a flight in about half an hour, so I went back to Fang's room.

I almost liked him better this way, I thought guiltily, when he couldn't open his mouth or tell me he didn't believe me. He would actually look kind of peaceful except for the strained breathing. "Is he okay?" I asked Iggy.

Iggy just shrugged. "I think he's just sick or something. Idiot," he muttered under his breath. "What happened, anyways?"

"I told you, I don't know, really."

"I don't mean what happened to _him. _I mean what happened between you two. I'm not buying you both decided to go out for a nice fly - or swim, whatever."

"No. He followed me."

"And?"

"What do you want me say?" I snapped at him.

"I heard about what happened," Iggy said. "He was defending Rachel, right? So what's going on now? Are you sure you didn't _push _him off the watertower?"

"Shut up, Ig," I warned, but gave in to his questions. "Yeah, he believed her over me. We were fighting, but you know him. He..."

"Declared his love for you instead?"

Uh, not _exactly. _Right? Fang didn't love me. I didn't answer Iggy.

"Cut the guy a break, Max," Iggy said. "It's not his fault you rejected him so many times. A guy can only take so much, you know."

Is that what I had been doing? Rejecting him? I looked over at Fang, who looked horribly weak lying there like that. Why couldn't I hate him like I wanted to?

"So you never told me - how'd it go?"

Ugh. "I don't know," I said. I guess I had to forgive him. "How can I not forgive him now?"

"He wouldn't like that, you know," Iggy said. "He wouldn't like you not hating him because he's lying there on a bed. Why do you think he didn't tell anyone he was sick?"

"Because that's how Fang is," I muttered.

"So the question is are you still ready to rip his throat out?"

"You know I don't hate him, Iggy. I -" I couldn't say it. I wouldn't.

"I get it." Iggy smiled a smug smile.

I _hated _this. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. It wasn't rejection so much as it was defensive maneuvers, protecting me from _this. _The tell everybody, sappy kind of thing. I couldn't handle it.

I turned to leave the room, talk to the rest of the flock, and as I did, I snuck a glance at Fang. As I walked out the door, I suddenly recognized the expression on his pale face.

A smile.

A stupid, Fang-ish, _smug _smile.

Crap.

0-0-0-0

The whole flock was gathered outside Fang's room, anxiously waiting as Dr. Martinez examined him.

"Well," she said, letting us in after a few minutes of antagonizing silence. "The good news is he'll be fine. He's just sleeping right now."

There was a collective sigh of relief.

Remembering, I glanced at the clock for the first time since getting out of the rain, and realized it was past 11. "Angel, Gazzy, Nudge," I said, "Fang is fine, so go to bed."

Of course, there were various protests and some whining on their part, but eventually they listened to me. Iggy followed them too, probably tired or having lost interest. I walked into the room closed the door behind me as they left.

Then I got to the part that had me worrying. "What's the bad news?" I asked.

"Well, judging from his symptoms, it seems like he might be verging on pneumonia."

"Pneumonia?"

She nodded. "It does seem odd to me too, but I was thinking about it and it's really not that strange. You haven't been around humans much, right?" I nodded. "Well, he hasn't been exposed to much before, and you've all just been stuck in the middle of a school system full of contagious kids in the midst of flu season. His immune system just wasn't prepared."

It made sense, kinda.

"Judging from these bags under his eyes, it doesn't seem like he's been getting much sleep either. And you said you were out in the rain when he fell?"

"Without a jacket," I muttered quietly. When he was awake, I'd give him a good "I told you so."

Her eyes widened. "Of course, he could have taken medicine, got some rest and he'd be fine. But I guess he didn't want you guys to worry about him," Instead of concern, her voice was full of disapproval. So she thought he was stupid, too. That served him right.

"So basically," she said, "I'm just guessing it was a combination of stress, lack of sleep, his fever...if he stays in bed, he'll be fine. You know, chicken soup, things like that."

"Thanks, Mom," I said quietly.

"Do you want me to go now?" she asked.

No, I didn't want her to go, I wanted to say. I wanted her never to leave. But I could tell she had to, so I quickly hugged her goodbye. "Tell Fang when he wakes up that next time he's sick, he needs to tell people."

"Oh, I definitely will," I told her.

"I don't know what happened between you two," she whispered into my ear, "but whatever he did, you should cut him a break."

I pulled apart from her and stared. "What?" I said. "Why do you think that we -"

"Calm down, Max." She laughed. "He was just mumbling and tossing a little - his fever was pretty high. It sounded like he was apologizing to you in his sleep. You know he's never been the talkative type, but I'm pretty sure I caught a few 'I'm so sorry's' in there. No wonder he's so stressed out."

"I-"

"I'm just saying whatever he did he's obviously regretting it. Give him a chance, okay? I have to go now, but I'll see you soon."

"Bye," I said, quietly. 

Then she left, leaving me alone with Fang. Joy.

I sat by his bed, thinking, remembering when he had been in the hospital. That would definitely be on the top of my things-I-never-want-to-do-again list. How was it that I could hate him one minute and be thinking about how I couldn't live without him the next? But then I realized that the reason I had hated him was because I thought he hadn't cared about me, hadn't trusted me. Except...the reason he hadn't trusted me was because he cared about me? My mind was racing, running in all different directions. And the reason he'd basically ignored me was because he thought I wanted him to. Because he thought I wasn't feeling exactly what he was.

"Fang, you are _such _an idiot," I said.

As if in response to his name, he stirred. "Fang?" I called again, feeling slightly idiotic.

And then, all of a sudden, he jerked into a sitting position, his eyes flying open. "What..." he started, not seeming able to phrase the question.

I shoved him back down before answering. "You _do _remember the whole falling backwards off the tower thing, right?" I asked.

His eyes widened. "I fell off? The last thing I remember is being pissed at you because you wouldn't answer me...how did you get me here?" he seemed embarrassed.

I shrugged. "It was nothing." If nothing meant struggling so hard I thought I was going to die.

"So..." he said, "Can I get up now?"

All so nonchalant, like he had slipped or maybe dozed off in the middle of the day. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Mom says you're getting rest. That means no leaving the bed."

"Dr. Martinez was here?" his mouth opened a little, so I could tell he was totally and completely mortified.

"Fang, in case you hadn't noticed, you've been lying there for three hours now. You think we're not going to do anything?"

He didn't answer, just rolled his eyes like he was oh-so-totally-fine, like I didn't hear the way his voice slightly shook or the way he coughed between sentences.

"Max, here's a question: Why didn't you just let me fall?"

I stared at him incredulously. "You know, I always knew you were stupid, but I just keep realizing it today, again, and again, and again."

He rolled his eyes. "Max," he warned, his tone threatening. Too bad Fang didn't scare me.

There was quiet for a minute before I said, "I saved you, because as much as I want to kill you most of the time, if you died...I would want to die."

There. I'd said it. His eyes widened slightly in ever so Fang-like shock, like he couldn't believe I'd ever say anything like that. In fact, I couldn't really believe I'd ever say anything like that.

"Fang...you know," I said, whispering in case my voice would humiliate me, "You know how you said I could think about it, if I want?"

He nodded slightly, and, probably sensing my weakness, chose this moment to sit up. I didn't stop him. "I thought about it, and I..." I couldn't seem to finish my sentence. "I don't...want you to get another girlfriend."

He snorted. Well, I guess I _had _made my opinion on his dating techniques pretty clear.

Suddenly, though, his face was serious. He looked me in the eye and said, "Max, I don't...want you to feel like you have to do this. You can leave right now. I know you wanted to kill me earlier. Just because I'm..." he gestured to the bed. "You don't have to spare my feelings. I can take it."

I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the gazillionth time that day, suddenly frustrated. "I'm not doing _anything _just because you look pathetic. If I was still mad at you, do you think I'd still be sitting here?"

"You're not mad at me..." his voice was skeptical, sarcastic.

"Ugh. I'm not angry with you anymore...because I felt what it was like not to have you. For a second I felt what I would feel ...if you were gone. Dead," I choked.

I felt, I feel, I feel. I should be a therapist, really, with all my emotional skills.

"Max," Fang said, looking me in the eye. "If you're going to forgive me, will you do it because I'm sorry?"

I decided to make the most out of the moment. "Sorry for what?"

He sighed, giving me an evil look, and said, "I'm sorry for not believing you, for pretending I didn't care...for calling you...well, you know what I called you. God, Max, I feel so stupid now. I hope you're happy."

I gave him a level look, and he looked back at me. It was then I realized we hadn't _really _looked at each other since the first day of school. And I had missed it.

And then something incredible happened. A small smile lit up Fang's face - well, it pretty much lit up the whole room. It wasn't a smug smile, or an arrogant smile, but one of those rare, genuine ones that always made me blush.

It also must have been what caused me to speak my next words, because I'm sure nothing else in the universe could have triggered them.

"I'm...sorry, too," I told him quietly.

"For what?" he asked.

"For...running away, when what I wanted to do most was to stay." Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. "And...pretending _I _don't care."

Fang, seeming a little tired, rested back on his headboard casually, trying to escape my notice. I ignored him, let him think he was smart. "Max," he said. "You know why I didn't try to kiss you again after the time on the building? I realized you weren't ready - I was pushing you too hard because I wanted something that wasn't going to happen."

He was talking too much. He was doing that out of character thing that I hated, because when he did it every word out of his mouth was something I didn't want to hear.

But not today, apparently.

"That's why I didn't want to push you too hard here. I knew you didn't have any good reasons not to be with me, so you must not want to."

"There _were _reasons, though. Imagine what it would be like, with the flock, and being on the run, constantly in danger, Itex after us..." What would we even do? Hold hands as we ran for our lives? Blow kisses across rows of cages? I shuddered.

"But we're safe now. A home, like I said all those years ago. We're safe, hidden, comfortable." His tone was smug.

Maybe _he _was comfortable. I scowled.

"Now there's no reason not to," he said.

I knew that. Had I known it all along, since I saw him flirting with Barbie in the park? Had I known how I would be feeling when I watched him leave for his date, when I heard his worried voice when I was trapped in the locker room?

I been running away from him the whole time. That was all I ever did, wasn't it?

"I know that," I said, feeling hysterical. "I _know _there's no reason not to, I know that I want to. Fang, you're _so..._but I don't know how!" I was getting close to either yelling or sobbing, I could tell which.

When he spoke his voice was gentle. "We don't have to know...exactly how to do this. Just...go with the flow."

I was crying harder now, with no apparent reason. I think moving here had caused my tear ducts to go into overdrive or something. "But how," I blubbered, "How can we - I don't know anything...what I'm supposed to do..."

Fang slowly got out of his bed. I tried to stop him, I think, but my words were kind of hard to make out in my state. He didn't even wobble or anything - I gave him credit for that. He pulled me up from my chair, and - I know this sounds like some cheesy romance novel or something, but I swear, it happened - well, I basically melted into his arms.

Hugging Fang was something I did rarely. When it happened, I always appreciated it. It is a commonly known fact that Fang does not hug, so when _he _offers it you have to take advantage of it; you never know when the opportunity is going to come up again.

But I wasn't thinking about any of that when he was hugging me. All I could think about was his comfortable shoulder and the hand that was slowly rubbing circles into my back. "Max," he said, gently, "you don't have to do anything except not run away. Just go with the flow."

_What are you, Jeb? _I thought, but sort of listened to him, I guess. "You're being so," I gathered my thoughts, looking for the right word. There was none. "You're being so un-_Fang. _You don't have to do this. You don't hug people. You don't talk so...nice."

"I would," he said, "but you never let me, Max. Every time I tried you'd keep pushing me away, again and again."

"I'm sorry," I said, again. How had this turned on me? I forgot. I didn't care. I slightly pulled away from him again and looked up at him. Maybe he'd believe how much I wanted to be _here, _right now, if I showed him 

And then a reality check hit me, full force, right in the face. These were the things I realized.

1) Fang and I were standing in Fang's bedroom in the middle of the floor, wrapped in a tight embrace. I was crying like a complete and total idiot and the whole house had probably heard me.

2) I was agreeing to _what _with Fang? Being his girlfriend, or being _with _him? This was the one observation I was willing to somewhat look over - even if I hadn't been exactly in my right mind while making the decision, I guess I didn't regret it - yet.

3) I was about to kiss Fang, who was apparently going to get pneumonia if he didn't stay in bed for the next few weeks - which really translated to days, with our healing - and he was standing, pretty much supporting my weight and completely pale even though he hadn't said anything.

I disentangled myself from Fang and shoved him back on to the bed. Once he was there, he immediately started coughing, as if he'd been holding it in or something. I hovered over him nervously, waiting for him to take a breath. "Fang?" I asked.

He glared up at me. "I'm fine," he said. "But I guess we shouldn't..."

No, that would not be good, seeing as he was contagious. I was perfectly okay with saving that part for later. He probably wasn't, judging from the regretful expression, but he was him, and I was fine with keeping him waiting.

I went downstairs then, leaving him to himself, so I could think. I guessed everything had been resolved - he wasn't dating Barbie anymore, I forgave him - which, at the start of the day, I'd thought would be impossible, and we - well, we weren't going to be torn apart anymore. That much was easy to gather from his face.

Maybe high school really wasn't so bad after all, I thought.

**That's technically the last chapter, but there's going to be one last one after this so that I can make them kiss because I was unable to do so in this chapter. And, you know, it just wouldn't be right if they didn't kiss, so there's my epilogue, you know? But this chapter was pretty insanely long, wouldn't you say? Please review. I know the ending wasn't like, perfect, and I'd like to have Fang be a lot hotter, but I think I did what I could with what I had. Maybe the next chapter will resolve it better? Anyhow, what do you think? Please say something other that update, that just leaves me hanging here. I wanna know if I did okay, ya know?**

Anyhow, thanks to everyone for reviewing so much, I haven't said that yet. I think I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to getting an insane amount of reviews. I have , what, 400, and there's only soon to be 14 chapters? Yup, spoiled. So thanks to everyone for that and stuff. I can't type names like some people do but I always love getting reviews - that's my favorite part of fanfiction. It's always either ego-boosts or constructive criticism.

So, now this author's note is a little long, and I had thought I'd reformed myself in the ways of making author's notes too long, but I think it's okay because I typed like hell working on this chapter and I think I deserve to rant a little. I'm done now, though. (Ha, I just downloaded this onto word. 15 freaking pages. You all better appreciate it)  



	15. And Everything's Over

SN **Ack! Sorry everyone! I really want to get this finished right now... if it sucks... then my writers block is evident. And if it doesn't suck I'll be amazed. But it'll be done. And I'm listening to "damn you look good and I'm drunk" ... it's very ... interesting. Anyhow... lets see if I can do this. ooh, yay, Taylor Swift. Better than that cobra starship stuff. Right. Writing now. Trying.**

**Oh my goodness. Has anyone else taken the PSAT's? Because I just did and now I'm getting all these letters from colleges and it's really annoying. It's like, I'm a freshman people, jeez, lay off. Just shows you not to check that little box that tells you to release the information to colleges. They make it sound like a good thing. Whatever.**

**I'm procrastinating and talking about irrelevant things. But just as a warning, I haven't written Max in a while, I've been on fictionpress, so if everyone is OOC... don't shoot.**

This was not fun, this was not funny. And yet every one else seemed to think it was, when they were shoving me into a dress.

You know, at least they tried. I applaud them for their effort. But honestly, they were going to have to try a lot harder than that. Did they think I was going to give into their pleading, especially with Fang standing off to the side, glancing over every once in a while? Ha.

So, no. In the end I ended up in flowy-ish brown top that _apparently _matched my eyes. Whatever, it was comfortable. I wore my jeans with it, obviously, because I've never been the girly-girl type.

Although I _do _have to admit that when a girl is deprived of clothes and cute shoes her whole life, when the girl is stuck in a huge house with a closet full of many of these things, it is not exactly a bad thing. I mean, just because I can kick anybody in the school's butt in about 15.65 seconds doesn't mean I don't enjoy a cute top or letting my hair down occasionally.

Okay, maybe the hair thing was going a little too far, but you understand my point. The point is that yes, I have a reputation to keep up here, but believe it or not, I am a girl. That means I have the right to go to a school dance.

Okay, really it was Kelly who did the convincing. Even if I _was _into that kind of thing, I've heard that the school dances are lame. Of course, it's not like Kelly has ever cared about being lame, so she always goes and this time she decided to drag me with her and Jack.

Of course - the eye-rolling should be included here - Fang was into the whole thing. He's been in a weirdly...actually _good _mood since he was allowed to get up. I'm still watching him, though, always noticing when he gets tired.

Anyways, he's very into the whole thing. Along with the good mood came the whole me "agreeing" to him. So since we've gotten back to school he's been very...enthusiastic about us being together, as in boyfriend and girlfriend.

Yes, it is weird. Yes, it is _Fang. _And I still refuse to grasp the concept of being any more than basically brother and sister with him. But, surprisingly, he's making it easy. Of course, he's still Fang, what with the mocking and the dark and mysterious demeanor, but it's almost like...he gets what I'm thinking, sometimes. Like he knows that I'm not used to anything yet.

Which, frankly, is unlike him. He kissed me the first time, when I wasn't ready, _and _the second time, when I was even _more _super-duper not ready, and then had his whole issues with high school and whatnot. But I guess I've been having issues too, as much as I hated to admit it.

So, tonight - _take a deep, very deep, very, very, deep breath, Max_ - I was going to show Fang that I was ready. Because after the first two times, I realized that it really wasn't something I wanted to do without. Kissing Fang, I mean.

And, as much as I hate to say it, I don't mind him too much either. What I told myself as I walked out of the room was that at least by doing this I was keeping the people like Barbie off of Fang. Yeah, I swear, the only reason.

"Thinking hard?" Fang asked as we were leaving.

I gave him a look, hoping it wasn't that obvious that I was lost in thought. I grabbed my jacket and scowled at Fang until he did the same, grudgingly. At least I still had _some _authority around here.

"Honestly, Fang, next time you jump off a water tower I'm waving adios and telling the flock there was nothing I could do. You're just so _difficult."_

He shot me a dark look and shrugged his jacket on. "Happy?"

"Exuberant."

"I think you've taken one too many vocabulary quizzes."

I shrugged, saying, "The sacrifices I make for you kids," and proceeded to push him out the door.

I had left Nudge in charge, and even in the chaotic process of getting Fang and Iggy off their butts to go anywhere, I could still feel twinges in the pit of my stomach telling me not to leave the younger ones alone. I swallowed, trying to forget, remembering that we were safe here and hadn't seen any erasers the whole time, and that Angel and Gazzy and Nudge could kick the butts of anyone who tried to mess with them. I trusted them.

Well, to an extent. I had a feeling they would be ordering a pizza and Nudge and Angel would be flirting with the delivery man, but I figured they could keep themselves out of serious danger for 2 and a half hours. Two if I could get Kelly and Fang to let me leave early.

I felt a gentle pressure squeezing my hand. Fang. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised but he just said simply, "Nudge'll take care of them. They know where we are if there's any trouble, so calm down."

I really need to get those facial expressions in check.

We started walking towards the school, just like we did every morning except for the fact that I was dressed a tad differently and Iggy looked more upbeat than he does in the mornings. He was probably looking forward to dancing with Abby, and I couldn't blame him. Everything here was new, something we'd never experienced before.

I hadn't noticed until now, but Fang was still holding my hand. My head snapped up and I shot a glance at him, but he wasn't looking at me, talking to Iggy about something or other. I debated snatching it back, but that would just seem... rude.

Psh, like that mattered. Need I recap Fang's latest rudeness?

_No, _I scolded myself, _We're not thinking about that tonight. I am forgiving. I am a forgiving person._

When we got to the dance - and, thank goodness, Fang let go of my hand to buy tickets, now that weird feeling could go away - we were immediately attacked by Kelly, with Jack in tow.

"Max!" she squealed, hugging me. "I'm so glad you showed up! I thought you were going to ditch at the last minute, thank god you're here. I knew you would come, though," she lowered her voice, "I mean, you've obviously never been to a dance before. You have to try everything at least once, right?"

I just grimaced, thinking of Fang, and allowed myself to follow Kelly inside, Fang and Iggy on opposite sides of me.

When we entered the gym, Iggy immediately made a face. The music was loud. And by loud I don't mean _turn down the music _loud_, _I mean sitting in the front row of a rock concert with Nudge yelling in your ear loud. I rested my hand on his shoulder, reminding him that I was here, and he nodded in acknowledgment.

Fang and I both helped him find Abby, who immediately smiled when she saw him and ran up to hug him. He jumped when she first attacked him, but then recognized her and smiled too. "Want to dance?" she asked.

"Did you say something?" he yelled, trying to be heard over the annoying rap music that was pulsing through the overly decorated gym.

"LET'S _DANCE!" _she yelled back.

He looked nervous, but she took his hand and led him to the edge of the crowd of dancing teens where there was plenty of space for a blind kid to awkwardly move around.

I watched them for a while, then looked around distractedly. This whole thing was ridiculous, really. The music was obnoxious and much too loud, the decorations were over-the-top, and the kids who had organized this whole thing were still running around in the dark gym with frenzied, distracted looks on their faces. I almost laughed, but Kelly and Fang had made me feel guilty enough already for refusing in the first place.

Kelly and Jack joined Iggy and Abby on the dance floor, leaving Fang and I standing there awkwardly. Fang nudged my shoulder, then glanced out to where the DJ's lights were flashing and everyone was dancing.

There was no way I could pretend I didn't see the question in his eyes. So, not looking at him, I marched off to join the bouncing mob of people. I was in for some big fun. Really.

It was awkward at first, to tell the truth. Growing up the way I have, there isn't exactly much time to practice dancing or attend these kinds of stupid events. If I had even thought about attempting it in the first place, Iggy and Fang wouldn't have let me forget it for years.

But I let my super-sensitive ears become accustomed to the loud, fast beat and the sexist lyrics and before I knew it my genetically enhanced body was swaying in ways I didn't know it could. Not that I'm saying I'm a good dancer - that's funny - but I'm just not designed to look awkward.

They started playing some loud rock song, and the whole room cheered (This wasn't anything special - before, the only way I could tell the song was different was because there was a random burst of screaming).

"I _love _this song!" Kelly shouted, jumping up and down in time to the beat. I discovered that when they play the music that isn't hip-hop, all you really have to do is jump up and down and kind of raise your arms. You don't even have to worry about looking stupid, because everyone is doing it with you.

Of course, squished in-between a bunch of people I didn't know immediately set me on edge, but I glanced around me to find Kelly and Jack, dancing together, Fang rebelliously bopping up and down, his feet firmly on the ground and his hands in his pockets, and Iggy losing his strained look and beginning to enjoy himself. Right. This is why I was here.

Everyone was shouting the chorus, and I recognized it to be the first song on my Boys Like Girls CD, _The Great Escape. _And I realized I was dancing, surrounded by happy people my age, recognizing the song I was dancing to. And instead of furrowing my brow at the thought, I actually smiled.

When the song was over, I immediately extricated myself from the large group and breathed in gulps of fresh air, Fang behind me and discreetly doing the same thing. Iggy soon followed, leaving Abby in the crowd, and the three of us walked to where the food was, as far away from the huge speakers as we could get.

We grabbed some of the free snacks set up on a table and chowed down in silence - even far away the music was pretty loud, so there'd be no point anyway. It was actually kind of hard to think.

We were all uncomfortable - it was easy to see the identical looks on all three of our faces - but for once we were trying to overcome the feeling. I saw Fang put his hand on Iggy's shoulder and I read his lips as he said, "How're you doing?"

Iggy nodded and said something back to Fang that I didn't quite catch.

I smiled at them. "We're really turning into normal kids, aren't we?" I said loudly.

Iggy smiled back at me. "As normal as we can be with our... issues, right?" Right. With our luck the music would stop as soon as anyone said 'wings.'

"It's not as bad as you thought it would be, was it?" Fang asked me over some rapper telling everyone how much he loved exposed women. Fang obviously meant coming here in the first place, not the dance.

I thought about it, then said. "No, it was."

He and Iggy seemed to consider it, and Iggy laughed. "But it turned out okay, right?" he asked me. I nodded slowly.

"I'm sort of..." I was about to say 'glad we came here,' but before I could say it and face the consequences of the smug look I knew would come to Fang's face, I stopped short.

The song had changed abruptly to a slower one. "Hey everyone, here's a slow one for y'all," came the DJ's voice from his stand. I'd vaguely heard this song too. It was on the Boys Like Girls CD... the last one, I think. I hadn't felt like listening to it before - it wasn't my kind of fast paced song.

Fang jostled me again and pointed to Abby, who was frantically looking for Iggy across the room. "Ig," I told him. "I think Abby wants to dance with you."

We waved her over and, ignoring Iggy's blush, she dragged him back out onto the dance floor with her.

My stomach flipped over - this was it. Fang was going to -

Yup. There he goes. Taking my hand with that question in his eyes again.

Ugh. I want to. I don't want to. I want to. I don't want to. I really want to. I really don't want to.

But it was too late. We were already out on the dance floor, and his hands were already settled on my hips, and we were already swaying to the slow beat. I looked up at him and saw him looking back at me, his expression in that Fang-like state where it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Honestly I don't know how it happened, but seconds later I swear I was closer to him than I had been before. And he was closer to me. And we both had the same idea and I was pressed up against his chest and his hands were on my back and ohmygod we were still swaying to the freaking music.

I was probably going to hyperventilate. I'd never slow danced with Fang before - heck, I'd never slow danced with anyone before and here I was in this tight embrace like I'd done it a million times. I breathed in through my nose - Fang had evidently taken a shower before we'd come - and pressed my cheek to Fang's chest, looking out at the rest of the dancers (the only people I could really see were Rachel and Brent, who were doing a lot more than slow dancing, if you catch my drift).

Yeah, this could definitely work out, this whole thing. Fang was so... familiar, and comfortable, that I almost forgot how much this all freaked me out. And if I just took a deep breath, it all seemed normal, for once. Really, actually normal.

A few minutes more of this pressing together, this soft, comfortable heat, and the song ended.

Fang pulled back and his mouth twitched up in a smile. I was ashamed when my cheeks heated in response, but he didn't seem to notice, leaning down in towards me.

Oh, god. He was going to do it. He was going to -

Our mouths met and I forgot what I was thinking. I forgot everything except Fang and me with our mouths pressed together. His warm hands were on my back, one of my hands was resting weakly on his arm, and my head was spinning. It was so ridiculous that he could turn me into this kind of mush. Me, invincible Maximum Ride, brought down by on pair of lips.

_Crash._

Fang and I jumped apart, interrupted, and looked around.

Uh-oh.

0-0-0-0

Iggy relaxed slightly, relishing in the feel of his arms around Abby.

"This is perfect," she whispered, swaying with him to the music - some obnoxious boy band, but who was he to complain?

He just nodded into her hair, giving his silent agreement.

"I know I kind of forced you to come, Jeff, but I'm really glad you did. Are you still uncomfortable?"

He smiled even though he knew she couldn't see it. "I'm plenty comfortable."

The music was still too loud, though, for his comfort. He couldn't tell if there were people near him, couldn't sense if he was about to smash into a bulky football player. But Abby was there. He trusted her.

"Max and Fang are about as close together as we are," Abby whispered to him.

Iggy grinned, wishing he could see them. Instead he told Abby to grin at Fang _for _him.

"Wow," said Abby in amazement. "He's actually smiling back at me."

Now _that _was strange. Going to school really was changing everybody... including him. Who'd have ever thought he'd be here, embracing a short girl in a gym full of giggling teenagers who thought he was just like them?

No, he'd never have imagined it, but he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

After a few more lines of the song, everything seemed to go quiet. He figured he was supposed to let go of Abby seeing as the song was over, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to. He wanted to stay in this position for ages.

And then there was the sound of saliva-swapping from behind him. "Is that Fang and Max?" He asked Abby, still pressed against him, in amazement.

She shook her head. "Kelly and Jack," she said.

Ew. Okay.

Still, though, he didn't want to move.

That is, until he heard an ear-shattering crash that sounded suspiciously like breaking glass, screams, and Fang shouting his name from behind him.

He pulled away from Abby and kissed her on the mouth, hard. What if this was goodbye?

"Iggy!" Max yelled.

Okay, okay, he was moving.

0-0-0-0

For a moment I was confused, lost in the screams of the dancers, but the second I saw the giant, flying machines bursting through the windows, everything snapped into perspective.

"Flyboys!" Fang yelled to me. Like I didn't already down.

People were running, teachers were shouting orders, and Kelly, Abby, and Jack had disappeared. Fang immediately went to grab Iggy and inform him of what was happening, while I yelled at everyone to get out of the building. Hopefully they could come up with that idea on their own, but you'd be surprised what some people try to do in these kinds of situations.

Oh god. What about Angel and Gazzy and Nudge? What if the School already had them?

I couldn't think about that; I had to focus on getting Fang, Iggy and I out of here. My eyes focused on the gaping holes that used to be the windows.

I nodded my head in the direction of the windows and Fang immediately understood, yelling to Iggy. And then we were up, up to the high ceiling of the gym, using the chaos to our advantage to avoid the flyboys. Gasps could be heard from below us. Someone shrieked, "Oh my god, is that _Nick?" _I was pretty sure it sounded like Rachel. "Holy shit Kelly, is that Max?!" Well... Jack had to find out sometime.

Outside, we saw Angel, Gazzy and Nudge waiting in the air on the opposite end of the school. "Thank God," I breathed.

"Max!" Nudge screamed. "We came to warn you, but the flyboys were already here, we tried," she begged. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay," I told her. "I'm so proud of you, avoiding them and keeping Angel and Gazzy safe. You did great, Nudge. But we've got to get away from here."

Everyone nodded, and together we flew at top speed away from the school, away from California.

I sighed, but couldn't be completely unhappy. We may be leaving behind a lot of things, but we still had each other and that was all that mattered. Iggy would get over it, Kelly and Jack would have each other, and normalcy could be thrown out the window.

Well, most of it, anyways. I felt Fang's hand on my shoulder mid-flight, felt him give me one of those searching stares, and I realized we could never go back to exactly the way it was before.

I just attempted to shrug (come on, in the air) at Fang, trying not to think about it, think about how everything had changed in a second.

But isn't that the way it always is with us?

We'd experienced everything we'd wanted to - okay, maybe not me, I was still a littler bitter about the whole thing - but hadn't Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy had the chance they'd wanted to be like other people?

Of course it couldn't last forever. Of course I can't ever get too used to anything.

Fang squeezed my hand, still flying. Okay. Maybe except that. I could get used to that.

And we ran. And I don't know how long we'd be running for, or where we were going, but that was just the wonderful unpredictability of it all - it could all change in a second, _we_ could all change in a second.

And I loved it.

0-0-0-0

**THE END.**

**That is the end of this story. Yay. I just felt the need to end it like that. Sorry if it pissed you off :D But come on, it's Maximum Ride. They're just not supposed to settle down.**

**Anyhow, review.**

**And thanks to EVERYONE for reading this story and giving me so many reviews. I'm spoiled, I admit it, and I keep everyone waiting WAY too long for updates, but I can't help it. But thank you thank you thank you for all your nice comments (and the mean ones, I like those too :D) I'm shocked that people liked this as much as they did - it was a stupid idea that came to me at camp and starting with a horribly cliched purpose, but I'm still glad for all the reviews. And did I say THANK YOU?**

**Click that button one last time.**


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